Keith Swank for Pierce County Sheriff
Keith Swank is the Pierce County Sheriff and a former police captain with 35 years of law enforcement experience; our most qualified and well-rounded choice for Pierce County Sheriff.
Under Keith, burglary is down 43% and violent crime is down 35% in Pierce County. Experience matters.
About Keith Swank
A Lifetime of Service
Keith Swank is the Pierce County Sheriff and a former Seattle Police Department captain with 35 years of law enforcement experience.
He is our most qualified and well-rounded choice for Pierce County Sheriff.
Swank’s extensive experience as a patrol officer in Seattle taught him how to communicate with diverse communities, and how to make life-or-death decisions quickly and manage efficiently. Over his career as an officer Capt. Swank continually answered the call of those in need, sometimes on the worst day of their lives. He dedicated his life to protecting the public and doing so as fairly as possible.
Leadership & Crisis Response
Captain Swank trained officers around the country for the U.S. Department of Justice as an expert in de-escalation and crisis intervention.
Under pressure, Capt. Swank proved to be an effective leader who thinks outside-the-box in life and death situations, finding split-second solutions to challenges and facing down dangerous criminals most of us will thankfully never have encountered.
In between his two stints as a Watch Commander, Keith was second in command of the training unit. In 2017, he was promoted to Captain and worked as the Night Duty Commander, the highest-ranking officer in the city at night.
Rising Through the Ranks
After graduating from the police academy (CJTC), Keith spent 15 years as a patrol officer in Seattle and was promoted to Sergeant.
He oversaw 911 emergency response for four years, during which his duties expanded to serving as second in command of more than 100 people.
Proven Under Pressure
In 2006, then Sergeant Keith Swank played a pivotal role in the de-escalation of a tense situation with a mass shooter at the Seattle Jewish Federation.
During the 911 call, Swank utilized effective communication techniques to engage the suspect. Through patient dialogue and strategic communication, Swank was able to help diffuse the immediate threat, leading to a peaceful surrender without further harm to hostages.
Fallout from the shocking incident and subsequent trial made international news and demonstrated the power of effective crisis intervention.
Command Experience
After years of supervising the 911 response center, Keith longed to return to patrol and respond to emergencies.
While actively patrolling and keeping our streets safe, Keith was promoted to Lieutenant and spent two tours as a Watch Commander. Keith had fifty police officers working with him responding to emergencies.
Keith also served as the Commander of the Metro Special Response Section (SWAT Team, Harbor Patrol, Canine Unit, and Arson Bomb Squad).
The Choice is Clear
There’s only one candidate for Pierce County Sheriff with the education and needed real-world experience to lead and improve all aspects of law enforcement in the state’s second largest county.
The choice is clear. Keith Swank as your Pierce County Sheriff means safer streets.
Keith resides in Puyallup, WA with his wife and enjoys serving as a volunteer in the community.
Keith's Values
Courage
Doing what’s right isn’t always popular, and it isn’t always easy. Keith has spent 35 years making high-stakes decisions under pressure; and he won’t back down because a decision is unpopular with the people who’d prefer he stays quiet.
Tell the truth
Protect the public
This is the whole job. Every policy, every decision, every deputy on patrol serves one purpose: keeping the people of Pierce County safe. Keith has dedicated his career to it, and it remains his first and last priority.
Community Calendar
See upcoming community events and appearances:
Pierce Charter Review Commission
- June 29, 2026
- 6:00 PM
- Pierce County Annex, 2401 S. 35th St., Tacoma
Special Meeting of the Charter Review Commission
- June 29, 2026
- 6:00 PM
- Pierce County Annex, 2401 S. 35th St., Tacoma
Videos
The Issues
Welcome to the Movement
Committed to the truth about what is happening, the courage to stand for what is right, and the goal of protecting the community, Keith Swank is dedicated to fighting for Pierce County, which for too long has been ignored by those in power. Here is Keith in his own words.
1. Democratic Representation & Free Speech
Your right to protect your vote, and to prevent one-party rule.
The people of Pierce County elected their sheriff. That’s how it’s supposed to work: the voters decide who enforces the law in their community, and that sheriff answers to them; not to a handful of officials in a county building.
Now there’s a proposal to take that choice away with Pierce County Charter proposal C-1. It would strip voters of the power to elect their sheriff and hand it to political appointees; and it would do it by cutting short the term of a sheriff the people already chose. Think about what that means. An election you took part in, a result you helped decide, undone midterm because some officials didn’t like the outcome.
That’s not reform. It’s the removal of your voice. When the people in power can reorganize an office to undo an election they lost, you no longer have a check on one-party control; you have a rubber stamp. I believe the sheriff should answer to you, the voters, and stay independent of the political machine. Your vote is your protection. I intends to defend it.
2. Protecting Women and Girls: Fairness in Sports and Safety in Prisons
Women and girls deserve fair competition and safe spaces; and that starts with recognizing biological reality. Policies that allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports or be housed in women’s prisons erase hard-won protections and put females at risk.
In December 2025, a 16-year-old female wrestler from Rogers High School in Puyallup was matched against a biological male competitor from Emerald Ridge High School in a girls’ wrestling event. She was not told her opponent was male. During the match she alleged she was sexually assaulted. The incident was captured on video. My detectives recommended we prosecute her assailant, the Pierce Country Prosecutors declined to do so. This is a travesty. Federal investigators from the U.S. Department of Education later opened a Title IX investigation into the Puyallup School District over the handling of the case and the broader policy of allowing males to compete in female categories. The family has since filed a federal lawsuit.
The same flawed logic appears in our prisons. At the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy, biological males who identify as women are being housed with female inmates under current state policy. Multiple reports and a federal Department of Justice investigation have documented allegations of sexual assault, rape, voyeurism, and intimidation of female prisoners by these male inmates. Some of the males transferred into the women’s facility have prior histories of violence against women. Female inmates are placed in harm’s way.
I believe these outcomes are predictable and preventable. I support keeping sports and prisons separated by biological sex so that girls and women can compete without being endangered, and so that women in custody are not forced to share living spaces with biological males. As sheriff I have made it clear I will enforce the law to protect the most vulnerable, including female athletes and incarcerated women. Fairness and safety are not negotiable.
3. Public Safety First
Keeping the tools that find missing people and catch criminals.
A sheriff’s first duty is protecting the public; and that means keeping the tools that actually solve crimes. Under a new state law (SB 6002), law enforcement agencies across the region have had to suspend the automated license plate reader systems that flag stolen vehicles, missing persons, and wanted suspects in real time. Even police leaders who only support parts of the law have warned its restrictions could put active investigations in jeopardy, because crimes are often reported days after they happen; by which point the data trail may be gone.
In Pierce County, under my leadership burglary is down 43% and violent crime is down 35%. I believe public safety can’t take a back seat, and if we take away these tools we will have trouble maintaining this downward trend. Privacy and safety aren’t opposites, and Pierce County deserves a sheriff who will fight to keep proven investigative tools available to find the missing, recover stolen property, and catch dangerous suspects; while following the law and protecting the privacy of crime victims, including survivors of domestic violence. The people who pay the price for weakened enforcement are everyday residents and victims. I will always put you first.
Contribute
Campaigning for Pierce County Sheriff is now unfortunately a 24x7x365 reality.
With your help, we need to fight off attempts to limit our ability to speak on issues, fend off legal and legislative challenges to the office of sheriff, and build this movement as we run up to the next re-election cycle.
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