Spokane County GOP to advance nominees to replace Larry Haskell, lead Spokane County prosecution

By Monday, the Spokane County Commission will know what nominees they’ll choose from to lead the prosecutor’s office.

The resignation of longtime Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell last month means the office is now in need of someone to fulfill the remainder of his term through the end of 2026. First elected in 2014, Haskell, 71, spent a decade as the county’s top legal representative before resigning due to a desire to “slow down” while he “still has his health,” he told The Spokesman-Review in June.

State law puts the onus of finding a replacement for a partisan office like a county prosecutor on the party of the outgoing elected official, which in Haskell’s case is the Spokane County Republican Party. GOP precinct committee officers will gather Saturday to decide who will round out the list of nominees that will be forwarded to the Spokane County Board of Commissioners to choose from.

In a written response, Spokane County GOP Chair Rob Linebarger said the meeting where precinct committee officers vote on the nominees will be closed to the public, but that the party expects to release the list of candidates advancing by Saturday evening.

While the GOP can advance up to three candidates, only two have expressed interest so far, Linebarger said. Those attorneys are Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Preston McCollam, who’s overseen the side of the office processing criminal offenses since 2023, and Assistant Washington Attorney General Steve Garvin, who spent nearly 20 years in the prosecutor’s office before joining the state’s legal team in 2022. The county commissioners tapped McCollam to fill the role in the interim as the nomination process has played out.

Linebarger said the GOP’s candidate-vetting committee, led by former precinct committee officer Tim Kinley, interviewed McCollam and Garvin and will make the questionnaires with each available on the party’s website, spokanegop.com, in the days to come. Their early engagement in running for the position next year does not preclude other candidates from being nominated Saturday.

The county commissioners will interview the nominees and make their selection in the coming weeks, said Spokane County spokesman Pat Bell. State law gives the commission 60 days from Haskell’s departure, which took effect July 18, to make a decision. If they do not make a decision, Gov. Bob Ferguson will have 30 days to make an appointment.

McCollam may have an advantage with the commission. Two of the five county commissioners, Mary Kuney and Al French, already have endorsed his campaign.

No matter who wins the position from the county commission, the contest will continue. Both candidates have filed to run for prosecutor when the race will appear on Spokane County ballots. McCollam has raised more than $24,000 for his campaign, according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission. Garvin has raised nearly $22,000.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correctly identify Tim Kinley’s role within the Spokane County Republican Party.