About John Braun

"In a submarine, you don't waste space. In manufacturing, you don't waste a dollar. In government, we shouldn't waste your money either."

From the Factory Floor to the Senate Floor

John Braun was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1967 into a family that built things for a living. His grandfather, uncle, and father started manufacturing ambulances in Ohio in 1972, and the work ethic of the factory floor shaped him before anything else did. After a family business split in the mid-1980s, his father Jack moved the family to the Pacific Northwest, settling in Lewis County — roughly halfway between Seattle and Portland — and in 1986, Jack and Linda Braun, along with sons Jim and John, founded Braun Northwest in Chehalis.

John earned a Naval ROTC scholarship to the University of Washington, graduating in 1989 with a degree in electrical engineering. He was commissioned as a Navy officer and entered the submarine force, beginning a 31-year military career that would span seven years of active duty and more than two decades in the Navy Reserve.

Over the course of his service, Braun held six commands in the submarine force and with U.S. Combatant Commanders, rising to the rank of Captain (O-6). His final assignment was as Director of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Reserve Component, leading the reserve element of the entire submarine force. Along the way he earned dual master's degrees — an MBA and a Master of Science in Manufacturing Engineering — from the University of Michigan in 1999.

When Braun wasn't in uniform, he was on the factory floor. After graduate school he returned to Braun Northwest as General Manager and Vice President in 1999, then became President in 2006, growing the company to 350 employees working in a 128,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Chehalis. The company builds custom emergency vehicles — ambulances, fire rescue, mobile intensive care, SWAT, hazmat, bomb disposal, and prisoner transport vehicles — serving fire, EMS, and law enforcement agencies across the western United States, Hawaii, and Alaska. Every vehicle is custom-built to the customer's specifications and sold direct, with no dealer network. Braun Northwest is one of Lewis County's largest private employers.

A Record in the State Senate

Braun was first elected to the Washington State Senate in 2012, representing the 20th Legislative District — most of Lewis County plus parts of Cowlitz, Clark, and Thurston counties. He quickly earned a reputation as a detail-oriented budget hawk. By 2014 he had been elected Deputy Republican Caucus Leader and received the NFIB Guardian of Small Business Award.

His signature achievement came in 2015 with the College Affordability Program — the first and largest cuts to public university tuition in the nation. In 2017, as chairman of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, he led the 2017–19 state operating budget that achieved full state funding for basic public education under the McCleary mandate, while delivering property tax reforms that reduced taxes for 73 percent of Washington residents.In December 2020, his colleagues elected him Senate Republican Leader, the top Republican in the state Senate. He was unanimously re-elected in 2024.

As leader of the caucus, Braun has been the most prominent Republican voice against the Democrats' tax agenda — opposing the 2021 capital gains tax, fighting the $12 billion 2025 tax package (the largest in state history), and leading floor opposition to the 2025 income tax, warning that once the door was opened it would inevitably expand to all residents.He has also championed bipartisan causes that struggled to get traction in the House — including legislation to create criminal penalties when children are harmed by fentanyl exposure (passed the Senate bipartisanly four years running), reforms to juvenile rehabilitation facilities, and charity care protections for small and rural hospitals.

Family

John and Marlo have been married more than 37 years. They live on a small farm in rural Lewis County. They have four adult children, three of whom have served or are currently serving as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps.

The dual demands of military service and running a manufacturing business sometimes collided in memorable ways. In July 2017, while serving in the state Senate, Braun was executing scheduled Navy Reserve orders at Camp Smith, Hawaii, as commanding officer of a reserve detachment supporting U.S. Pacific Command. The operating budget was done and no one expected a summer session — but the Hurst decision had turned the capital budget into a bargaining chip, and the Legislature was called into a third special session. Under a rarely used state law, his wife Marlo — a registered nurse at Providence Hospital in Centralia — was temporarily sworn in as state senator to cast votes in his absence. Their daughter Olivia, then 15, held the Bible at the ceremony. It made national news.

Braun has served on the Providence Centralia Hospital Community Board, the Centralia College Foundation Board, the Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees, the National Association of Manufacturers President's Council, the St. Joseph School Commission, and the Centralia Youth Soccer Board.