In an unexpected move, President Donald Trump nominated Pete Serrano, a former state attorney general candidate from Pasco, to be the next U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington on Sept. 14.

Serrano now leads the federal prosecutor’s office in Eastern Washington in his dual roles of first assistant U.S. attorney and special attorney to Attorney General Todd Blanche. His appointment is the latest development in a turbulent chapter for judicial nominees in the state.

Serrano served about four months in 2025 as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. That appointment expired in December when Trump failed to formally nominate Serrano for the job in the face of staunch opposition from Washington’s two Democratic U.S. senators.

A Republican, Serrano ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general in 2024. He is also the founder of the conservative nonprofit Silent Majority Foundation, which has challenged Washington’s gun restrictions and COVID mandates.

The appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd in western Washington also ended without Trump nominating him for the job. Floyd now serves as first assistant U.S. attorney.

Judges in the western district then appointed Roger Rogoff, a former federal prosecutor and King County judge, to the post. Trump fired Rogoff an hour after the appointment, creating the vacancy that Serrano has been nominated to fill. Rogoff has sued, contending the president’s action violates a federal law that allows judges to act if the interim appointment is not confirmed.

On Sept. 14, Serrano said he was informed of the nomination that day and had “definitely” not spoken to the president. “It’s just another day in the Trump administration in Washington,” he said.

He also said he expects Washington’s senators will not drop their opposition. He was right.

“I will be using every tool I have to block this nomination,” Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement. “Let’s be clear about what a sham this is: After federal judges declined to appoint Serrano in Eastern Washington, this administration invented a workaround to install him anyway. Now they want to permanently install Serrano in the Western District.”

“The people of Washington state deserve a serious U.S. Attorney who will follow the law, not a political loyalist who thinks the law is whatever the President says it is,” she said.

One of those tools is the “blue slip” process, a longstanding tradition that allows senators to block nominees for U.S. attorney positions and federal judgeships in their states.

Once a president makes a nomination, a consent form, known as a blue slip, is sent by the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to the two senators in the nominee’s home state. 

If the forms are signed and returned, the process continues. If not, it signals a lack of support and the chair will not advance the nominee.

Trump loathes the process because it has derailed some of his picks. He has called it “old and outdated” and threatened legal action to end it.

“I have a Constitutional Right to appoint Judges and U.S. Attorneys, but that RIGHT has been completely taken away from me in States that have just one Democrat United States Senator,” Trump has posted on social media.

There are 93 U.S. attorneys nationwide. They prosecute federal criminal cases and work on civil litigation involving the federal government. Serrano supervises a staff of approximately 79 prosecutors, civil litigators, and support personnel, according to the Department of Justice.

Serrano was appointed in early August 2025 as interim U.S. attorney by former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. He could serve 120 days while awaiting confirmation. The clock expired in early December without Trump nominating him.

Originally from California, he moved to Pasco in 2015 with his family. He worked as an environmental lawyer for the U.S. Department of Energy and at Energy Northwest before founding the Silent Majority Foundation. Serrano is also the former leader of the Franklin County Republican Party.

This story is republished from the Washington State Standard, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Washington state government and politics.