Mercer Island residents and mother and son, Ruthann Kurose and Mori Rothman, were elected as members to the delegation of the Washington State Democratic Convention. Last weekend at the convention in Spokane, the delegation was completed with the election of 29 new delegates, four alternates and nine committee members.

Ruthann Kurose was nominated by the national Obama campaign for the national platform committee and elected by the Washington state delegation in Spokane. Kurose is a long-time civic and community activist in the Seattle area.

Mori Rothman was one of 460 running for an at-large delegate position. He was elected as an alternate, and at 18 years old is the youngest of the delegates/alternates elected at the state convention. Mori is a June 2008 graduate of Mercer Island High School, where he served as the senior class president. Mori was an Obama precinct captain for the 2008 caucus in February and works as an intern at “Washington Bus,” energizing young people to assert their political power through organizing and voter registration.

Kurose’s daughter and Mori’s sister, Mika Rotham, has been working for Barack Obama’s campaign for over a year after spending last summer working for the Washington state campaign staff for Obama.

Kurose and Rotham will join Islanders Willetta Ward and Richard Mitchell as members of the Washington Delegation to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver on Aug. 25.