John Duresky

John Duresky is a Democrat from West Richland and a retired Air Force Major who spent 37 years in government service, including civil service as a project control officer at the Hanford Site. He left federal employment under an early-retirement offer in 2025 and is running for office for the first time in decades, campaigning on affordability, rural health care, and government accountability.[1][2][3]

Duresky describes himself as a veteran and former federal civil servant with experience navigating VA and federal employment systems.[4] He is a retired Air Force major; his campaign website says he served three combat deployments and describes 37 years of service overall. MyNorthwest reported that this included 24 years in the Air Force and 13 years in federal civilian service.[5][3][6] In civil service he worked for several years as a project control officer at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site.[1][2]

In 2025 Duresky took the Department of Government Efficiency's early-resignation offer, ending his 37 years of government service; he first passed on the offer and later chose early retirement.[1][2] He lives in West Richland and had attended Benton County Democratic Party meetings before running. According to the Yakima Herald, this is his first campaign for office in decades.[1] Duresky signed the Take BAC Congress pledge (term limits, a lobbying moratorium, a ban on congressional stock trading, overturning Citizens United, and Supreme Court ethics rules), and the Yakima County Democrats have endorsed him.[1]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.