Doug Ericksen has been a state legislator in Washington for more than two decades. Currently a member of the Washington State Senate, he's also been a member of the Washington House of Representatives. In both cases, he has represented the 42nd District of the Washington State Legislature, based in the state's northwest.
A Republican, Ericksen would rise to become one of the most prominent members of the Washington State Senate. Things apparently took a turn for the worse for Ericksen on a recent trip to El Salvador. After contracting the novel Coronavirus, he reportedly became seriously ill, setting off a bizarre ensuing series of events.
He vanishes after announcing that he is very sick
The whereabouts of Doug Ericksen have become a mystery. His last apparently confirmed contact came on November 11, 2021. It seems that he sent an email to his legislative colleagues on that date. According to the email, Ericksen had taken a trip to El Salvador. While there, he tested positive for COVID-19 and was suffering from a "bad bout" of the disease.
The Hill indicates that there have been some unconfirmed reports that he was transferred to a hospital in Florida, including, according to Politico, from former State Senator and interim State Republican Party Chairwoman Luanne Van Werven.
Whether he was or wasn't ever taken to Florida, more specifically a Fort Lauderdale hospital, if he was, he apparently isn't anymore.
The hospital in question says that the senator is not among their patients.
Luanne Van Werven has since said she has no new information about his location or his condition. Several sources close to Ericksen have also said they don't know his location. Including those among his colleagues, his staff, and the Washington State Senate administration.
Apparently, attempts at contacting Ericksen's family have not yielded fruitful results.
Ericksen has been a state legislator since the 1990s
Doug Ericksen is a native of Bellingham, Washington, not far from the Canadian metropolis of Vancouver, British Columbia. Later, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in government from Cornell University.
Followed by earning a master's degree in political science from Western Washington University.
Ericksen worked as a staffer for State Senator Ann Anderson. Anderson was also the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Washington in 1996. Eventually, Ericksen was named a legislative affairs coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Ericksen was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1998 and was re-elected five times. He first won a seat in the Senate in 2010 and was additionally victorious in 2014 and 2018. While he won his first two Senate elections in landslide fashions, his third was by less than 100 votes.
In the Senate, Ericksen has been working as the ranking member of the Energy, Environment, and Telecommunications Committee.
He also worked in the Trump administration as interim communications director for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. His ties with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen would register as a foreign agent.
