Two similarly aligned Democrats with different political experiences and a Republican who believes he can break the seat’s blue streak are battling for the open position in Washington’s 6th Congressional District.
The retirement of U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer drew a competitive crowd eyeing a promotion from state to national politics: two state senators, Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, and Drew MacEwen, R-Union; and Hilary Franz, the current Public Lands Commissioner.
The politically diverse district spans the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas and large swaths of Tacoma. In 2020 President Biden won the district by more than 16 points, despite its deep red pockets.
The 6th Congressional District seat is one of two open congressional elections in Washington this year, both in districts that favor one party but have credible candidates on the other side. The other open seat is in the 5th Congressional District around Spokane, where Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers decided not to seek reelection after 20 years in the House.
Democrats’ support and endorsements are split between Randall and Franz, who hold identical positions on many issues. Both vow to defend abortion rights, support tax credits for families, expand access to mental health and mitigate climate change.
Kilmer, who has held the 6th Congressional District seat for a dozen years, endorsed Franz shortly after he announced his retirement. Franz, Lands Commissioner since 2017, had already launched a bid for governor but quickly pivoted to enter this race.
Leading the Department of Natural Resources had given her a front-row seat to the rapidly changing climate as the State grappled with salmon declines and more destructive wildfire seasons.
“On day one, I will be the leading voice on wildfire response, natural disaster response and climate change in Congress,” Franz said in an interview at a park along Tacoma’s waterfront. “Every single corner of the United States is facing it. And this is an issue that is crossing jurisdictional boundaries, state and national and even international, right? And it’s an area where I have led.”
Before heading the DNR, Franz, an environmental land-use attorney, served on the Bainbridge Island City Council.
During her tenure as Lands Commissioner, she helped craft and pass HB 1168, a landmark wildfire prevention bill that’s changing the state’s approach to fighting wildfires. The 2021 bill devoted $500 million over eight years to fire response and prevention, including upgrading and buying new aircraft, helping homeowners make their property more fire-resilient and hiring more firefighters.
The bill passed the House and Senate unanimously, while also receiving backing from environmental groups. Her approach to bipartisan cooperation: write the bill with a Republican and Democrat from each chamber, she said.
That way, Franz said, everyone gets some of what they want and some of what they didn’t want.
“That’s how we’re gonna get to writing better legislation that is actually going to have a longer lasting impact,” she added.
Randall, a state senator from Bremerton in the 26th District, is also seeking a move to the national stage and also speaks of her ability to work across the aisle. She has racked up a high-profile endorsement from U.S. Senator Patty Murray, D-WA.
“With [former President Donald] Trump on the ballot again, I think about how important it is that we have strong leaders at the federal level,” she said from a coffee shop in downtown Bremerton. “So that not only do we keep making progress at the national space, but we don’t go backwards at the state level.”
Randall’s district is one of two split districts in the state where both Republicans and Democrats hold seats.
“I have represented a district that is really divided,” Randall said. “I’m used to looking for compromise, even as we’ve been in the majority.”
In her time in the statehouse she’s focused on passing bills to expand health care access and abortion rights. Before coming to the Legislature, she worked for Planned Parenthood.
Last session Randall sponsored a bill, which failed to pass, to preserve access to gender-affirming, reproductive and end-of-life care when hospitals merge.
Randall said her proudest accomplishments in the state House include her accessibility to constituents through the frequent town halls she has hosted since winning her seat in 2018.
“I got the chance to meet so many more people who are not the kind of people that would necessarily think to email their legislator, but would come if we were at their local coffee shop,” she said.”
Both Randall and Franz have secured a long list of endorsements from other elected officials, tribes and labor organizations.
Randall received backing from Marilyn Strickland, a former Tacoma mayor and current U.S. representative for the 10th Congressional District. The city’s current mayor, Victoria Woodards, endorsed Franz.
Two unions representing DNR employees backed Randall rather than their current boss.
In the race for campaign donations, Franz has taken a solid lead, having raised $820,000 to Randall’s $529,000, according to the latest totals.
A challenger from the right
The last Republican to hold the 6th Congressional District seat lost reelection in 1964. MacEwen thinks he can break that streak. The state senator has represented the 35th Legislative District since 2013.
“With all due respect to those that have run before me on the Republican side, we have not had anybody in decades run who’s a sitting elected Republican,” MacEwen said in an interview with Cascade PBS.
In Congress, he says, he can make sure the area receives economic infrastructure investments and revitalize manufacturing and support small businesses by expanding access to low-interest loans. MacEwen doesn’t support a national abortion ban.
As for working across the aisle to pass legislation, MacEwen said there’s no better experience than being outnumbered in the Legislature.
“Unless you’ve served in the minority, you have no clue what it’s like to be bipartisan. I have to be, and I’ve had to be for the last 12 years, I’ve had to work with a governor that’s not in my party, to work in the House of Representatives that my entirety was controlled by Democratic leadership.”
MacEwen served six years in the Navy and is a managing partner in an investment firm, according to his campaign website. Latest fundraising numbers show MacEwen has brought in $141,000, a small fraction of what the two Democrats have to spend in the tough primary road to the general election.
This legislative session, MacEwen opposed a bill that would allow local city councils to raise property tax by more than the currently allowed 1% increase each year. Many cities are facing severe budget shortfalls, as inflation and costs outpace revenues.
Randall originally supported the legislation, later reversing course, as did one other Democratic. The party eventually scrapped the bill after pushback from constituents.
“It was a huge victory,” MacEwen said. “We can’t continue to ask our taxpayers to pay more and pay more and pay more. They’re already overburdened. “
MacEwen says if officials want to increase property tax rates more than the allowed 1%, they need to do it at the ballot box.
“If you can’t make the case to the voters, don’t come crying to the Legislature,” MacEwen said.
Janis Clark, a Republican from Federal Way, and J. Graham Ralston, an independent from Port Angeles, will also be on the primary ballot. Ralston hasn’t raised any money and Clark has raised $253 as of this week.
For votes to be counted, ballots must be dropped off at ballot boxes by 8 p.m. Aug. 6, or postmarked that day if mailed.
Young voters’ top issue
As voters make their choices for the August primary, fire season will be in full bloom, reminding Washington residents of climate change’s impact on the region.
“It’s the No. 1 issue I hear from young people in the district,” Randall said. “They want us to be taking bold climate action, because they want a planet to live on. A planet for their kids and grandkids.”
Randall said that as one of the lead negotiators for the 2022 $16 billion Move Ahead Washington plan, she helped craft the greenest transportation package in state history, which increased funding for public transportation – including free rides for minors – and investments in bike and pedestrian safety programs and infrastructure.
To get serious about climate change, MacEwen said, the U.S. should stop giving favorable trade status to nations that are the largest polluters, such as China.
Coming off a weekend spent managing wildfires around the state just as summer was officially beginning, Franz predicted another tough fire season.
“It shocks me how hard it is to get Congress to move on one of the most significant threats to our health of our people, our health of our environment, to our economy in our community,” said Franz.
