Kitsap County Commissioner Christine Rolfes serves District 1, covering Bainbridge Island and the northern half of the County, between Hansville and Silverdale and from Bangor to Brownsville. Appointed by the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners in 2023 to fill a vacancy left by Rob Gelder, she secured her position through election to a four-year term in 2024.
Commissioner Rolfes is a proactive leader in environmental conservation, health care, and transportation policy. She holds board positions with Kitsap Transit, Kitsap 911, the Consolidated Housing Authority, and Kitsap Public Health. Furthermore, she also represents the County on various regional councils, including the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, the Salish Behavioral Health Organization, the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council, the Puget Sound Ecosystem Coordinating Board, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, and the Puget Sound Regional Council.
Before joining the Board of Commissioners, Christine was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 2006 and served in the Washington State Senate from 2011 to 2023. As a state lawmaker, her last six years were spent serving as the chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, overseeing the state's $60 billion biennial budget. During this time she was a pivotal voice, advocating for the transfer of state and private forest lands to county parklands, congestion solutions for the Hood Canal Bridge and highways SR-104 and SR-305, and initiatives supporting various social services.
Christine earned her Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Virginia. She and her husband, Leonard, began their public service careers in Kitsap County - he as a deputy prosecutor and she with the Department of Community Development. They raised their two adult daughters on Bainbridge Island, where they still reside with their small flock of chickens.
Contact Commissioner Christine Rolfes at crolfes@kitsap.gov.
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