Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a series about the leading 2024 candidates for Washington’s 6th Congressional District.
In January of 2025, Washington’s Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz hopes to be the newest Democratic member of one of the country’s most powerful congressional delegations. Running to replace retiring Representative Derek Kilmer in Washington’s 6th Congressional District, which spans the Olympic Peninsula, she recently sat down with NPI to discuss her priorities ahead of the state’s Top Two election on August 6th.
Franz said she would pursue four main priorities if elected: more affordable housing, greater economic development, strengthening environmental protection, and reversing the contraction of of reproductive rights. “I believe the work that I have done across the urban-rural divide, across the Republican-Democratic divide, has been proven within the district and the state,” she said in an interview on April 8th.
One of her recent initiatives as Commissioner has been to increase “tree equity,” or the health and economic benefits that communities derive from tree cover. While Franz said that funding for the initiative had previously been minimal, the Inflation Reduction Act provided a large increase in money for sustainable forestry. “We used to have about $130 million for the country in urban forestry. They have stepped it up to $1.3 billion.”
In Congress, Franz said she would further invest in new technologies to diffuse tension between climate and economic development goals. She cited biochar, a biomass that aids with carbon sequestration, as a key emergent technology. The Department of Natural Resources signed a “letter of intent” in 2023 to use the technology at a new facility in Port Angeles to produce power while reducing emissions. Franz also complimented efforts on Capitol Hill by Representative Kim Schrier to increase biochar research.
Having served as Commissioner since 2017, Franz said that she has prioritized thoughtful solutions to problems Washingtonians may not associate with her job. “People might look at the Commissioner of Public Lands role and say, well, what does that have to do with housing? Well, we have a housing crisis and I manage 3,000 acres of residential zoned land in some of the densest urban cities, like Seattle and Tacoma, and some of our rural areas.”
In the most recent legislative session, Franz worked with Representative April Connors (R‑8th District) to pass a bill into law to incentivize the creation of affordable housing on state-owned residential property. She also recently issued an order directing DNR to locate opportunities to build affordable housing on transitional lands. “They’re not generating any revenue for our schools or health, housing, human services, or public safety” she said. “And at the same time, they’re not providing that critical housing.”
Franz also pursued a similar strategy with childcare by advocating to buy $100 million worth of land at risk of conversion and use revenues from management to fund a state Child Care Land Trust program. However, the main vehicle for doing so — House Bill 2243 — did not make it out of the Legislature in the most recent session.
“To me this was a pretty phenomenal, visionary tool that would help address our environmental crisis of too much of our natural resource lands being converted and lost, and our socioeconomic crisis, where we have too many parents who are struggling to find child care for their children,” she said.
Asked about other issues facing the 6th District, Franz noted that substance addiction continued to be a problem. Data from 2020–2022 show that counties within the district have suffered from some of the highest overdose death rates in Washington, while state and federal leaders have increasingly rung the alarm about rising fentanyl deaths, especially among tribal residents. “There are not enough local community facilities available in a way that makes it easy for our rural communities and our urban communities to have access to the community treatment options that they need,” said Franz.
She pledges to be an advocate for behavioral treatment, funding for local healthcare, and taking action against those bringing deadly and illegal drugs into the community.
Franz also emphasized the importance of protecting reproductive rights if elected. “As somebody who had a miscarriage very early in my life and was fortunate to be able to have access to local, affordable health care for an emergency [dilation and curettage], I truly believe that it should be a national right to reproductive freedom and ensuring every woman, no matter what state she lives in, has the right to a safe abortion.”
Ahead of the Top Two election, Franz has racked up endorsements from both Kilmer and his legendary predecessor Norm Dicks, while her main Democratic opponent, state Senator Emily Randall, has been endorsed by United States Senator Patty Murray.
Franz’s campaign manager Eve Zhurbinskiy emphasized in a note sent to reporters this morning that Franz has the most labor and tribal support: “Franz is also endorsed by twenty-seven unions, nearly ten times as many as her two opponents combined. She’s supported by thirteen Tribes, thirteen times as many as her opponents combined.”
Whatever the August election result, the odds are good that Washingtonians will send another Democratic woman to Congress in November. Either Franz or Randall would be the first woman to represent the 6th District since its creation in 1932.
Cook Political Report rates the seat as D+6 — making it the third-most competitive in the state, after the 3rd and 8th Congressional Districts, held by Democratic Representatives Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Schrier, respectively. For the Republicans, State Senator Drew MacEwen is running, though he is behind Franz and Randall in fundraising. Another Republican candidate, Elizabeth Kreiselmaier, recently dropped out.
“I believe my personal and my professional experience in this district makes me a top leader in [this race],” said Franz. “And the best one to represent this district.”
