French has announced his campaign for reelection
Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 7, 2026
District Three Clallam County Commissioner Mike French has announced his campaign for reelection. A former twice elected Port Angeles City Council Member, Mike was born and raised in Clallam County and now lives on the Westside of Port Angeles with his wife and two children. A graduate of Central Washington University, Mike owned and operated the First Street Haven Restaurant in downtown Port Angeles for over 15 years, successfully navigating the 2008 Recession and Covid-19 Pandemic before selling it to two former employees. Mike has a deep history of service to our community, serving on a number of local boards and committees including the Hamilton Elementary PTO, Port Angeles School District Capital Advisory Committee, Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic, and the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission.
Mike has focused his first term as County Commissioner to focusing on making life better for all Clallam County residents by supporting economic development, increasing housing accessibility, updating environmental policies, and addressing public safety. One of Mike’s accomplishments to increase economic development was through chairing the Recompete Coalition, which included a team of local leaders that brought $35.6 million of federal investment to the North Olympic Peninsula to create good jobs and train and connect our residents to living-wage jobs. “My hometown gave me the opportunity to start a business, work hard, and get ahead. Every resident of Clallam County deserves the chance to do the same,” Mike says.
Over the past 9 years in local government, Mike has consistently shown up, listened, and delivered results for Clallam County. “As a Commissioner, I was proud to help restart the dormant Clallam Bay/Sekiu Community Advisory Committee, which hosts monthly community meetings connecting County departments, elected officials and other organizations to the Clallam Bay/Sekiu community,” Mike says.
Mike has also supported conservative budgeting, working with County departments to reduce expenses in 2024 and 2025 while sustaining levels of service. “Because of these measures, Clallam County has avoided layoffs, hiring freezes, travel freezes, and across the board cuts, unlike many other counties in Washington State,” adds Mike.
Mike has seen firsthand how people have struggled with high housing costs and knows that too many residents struggle with high housing prices. Mike has been working on this issue since elected to the Port Angeles City Council, and has advocated for common-sense and effective solutions. As a Commissioner, Mike has dedicated millions of dollars of this funding to affordable housing projects across Clallam County and supported infrastructure investments through State and County dollars to sustain significant economic development projects that increase capacity to build, coordinating with nonprofit partners, as well as local, tribal and state officials. Additionally, Mike voted to pass a Park Model Ordinance, legalizing the use of tiny homes County-wide, making it easier for people to build a diversity of housing on their property. Mike says, “through sustainable growth, investments in affordable housing, and removing unnecessary regulations that make it harder to build market rate housing, we can help the next generation of homeowners and renters in Clallam County succeed.”
Additionally, Mike has provided responsible and balanced environmental stewardship for our natural resources, as our farms, forests, oceans, rivers, and mountains provide the bedrock and the backdrop for our community. To support the County’s environmental goals, Mike helped to pass a major update to the Clallam County Climate Action Plan in 2023, supported the Community Wildfire Protection Plan in 2026, and helped to complete a major environmental restoration of the Lower Dungeness Floodplain.
Mike believes that government should work for everyone, and that government is more effective when its leaders are working toward shared goals. Over the past four years, Mike’s work has focused on actively listening to residents across the County to make sure their voices are heard in County decision making. Mike has worked to increase transparency to promote sustainable good governance, and to ensure that every community in Clallam County has investments that support economic development, housing affordability and accessibility, public safety and environmental stewardship. “I am dedicated to continue working hard for the community that raised and supported me,” Mike states, “and I will continue to work on behalf of all people in Clallam County and to make sure that Clallam County remains a place where every resident has the same chance to succeed that I had”.
To learn more, visit www.electmikefrench.com.
