State Senator Emily Randall has bagged a sought-after endorsement from United States Senator Patty Murray in the contest to fill Washington’s open 6th District seat in the United States House of Representatives.
Randall and the state’s Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, both Democrats, are lining up support for a seat that does not often come open. It was represented for thirty-six years by Norm Dicks and another twelve years by retiring Representative Derek Kilmer. Both were influential in Washington, D.C., but practiced relentless retail politics on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.
Kilmer and Dicks have lined up behind Franz. In Kilmer’s words: “Hilary is a bold strategic leader with a track record of bringing people together from across the state and from different backgrounds to find solutions to our problems.”
Murray described Randall as a fighter on issues to which the senator has long devoted herself. “Emily will be a strong voice for women’s rights and health care at a critical moment,” said Murray, “and she’s someone with a proven record of being able to deliver on common sense legislative solutions that will make life better for people she represents.”
With a “track record” pitted against a “proven record,” 6th District voters may get a welcome opportunity to pick the greater of goods rather than the lesser of evils.
Randall represents the much fought over 26th District on the Kitsap Peninsula (Kitsap and Pierce counties), where she has deep roots. She is the daughter of a worker at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.
She flipped a State Senate seat by a one hundred and two vote margin, held it in the 2022 midterms, and is currently one of two deputy majority leaders. She was the lead sponsor of the Keep Our Care Act — NPI priority legislation to assure that hospital acquisitions and mergers do not impede patient access to reproductive, gender affirming and life ending care. (The bill died in the state House.)
Randall is seeking to become the first Latina LGBTQ+ member of the United States House of Representatives.
Franz has served two terms as overseer of state-owned lands, including more than two million acres of state owned forests. She is best known for efforts to upgrade the state’s firefighting response, as climate damage has made Washington’s fire season longer and more intense. She has been a trenchant critic of commercial farming of Atlantic salmon in home waters of wild Pacific salmon.
The Franz-Randall endorsement battle has lasted through much of the winter. Franz has lined up twenty union endorsements, most prominently the International Association of Firefighters, the Washington Machinists Council and the Washington Building and Construction Trades Council.
Backers of Randall include many of her legislative colleagues as well as United States Representatives Marilyn Strickland and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who represent two neighboring congressional districts.
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards has endorsed Franz.
The 6th District has a major Native American presence, with tribes working to restore salmon runs and relocate schools and offices out of tsunami-vulnerable areas. Franz has gained endorsements from eight tribal groups including the Makah Indian Nation and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.
The last close quarters, intramural Democratic contest for a seat in Congress here was also in a presidential election cycle — 2020. The Top Two qualifying election in the next door 10th District sent two Democrats to the general election ballot.
Representative Pramila Jayapal deployed resources raised through the Congressional Progressive Caucus on behalf of State Representative Beth Doglio. The result was a highly negative campaign against Strickland, a former Tacoma mayor who had gone on to head the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
Strickland won in a walk.
So far, the Franz-Randall contest has stayed clean, with no attack ads.
Instead, voters can enjoy multiple glowing testimonials.
From Murray, describing Randall: “I’m with Emily for Congress because I know she will be a strong voice for working people — the friends and neighbors she grew up with —in a district that is her home”
Dicks celebrates Franz in these words: “Under her leadership, her agency has helped lead the fight against climate change while bringing jobs and economic development to communities and small towns across the state.”
The 6th District is a needy place with a big federal presence, from the Trident submarine base at Bangor to Olympic National Park. Its residents turn out to town meetings and size up their members of Congress.
Hence, while endorsements are coveted, folks will ask their own questions and make up their own minds. Representative Kilmer has spent many evenings onstage at high school cafeterias, fielding questions at town meetings.
On the Republican side, State Senator Drew MacEwen (R‑35th District) is running. Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean, a Democrat, was also briefly in the race, but withdrew after only a few weeks of campaigning.
