Republican State Sen. Drew MacEwen has officially joined the race for the 6th Congressional District seat that will be vacated by outgoing U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer.

MacEwen, of Shelton, is the first Republican to register a campaign for this seat with the Federal Election Commission, which oversees federal campaign finance laws. Three Democrats – Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, State Sen. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, and Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean – also have launched campaigns for the seat.
MacEwen, a U.S. Navy veteran, has been in the state Senate since January 2023 after he was elected to replace retiring State Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Shelton. Before being elected to the state Senate, MacEwen represented the 35th District in the state House of Representatives between 2013 and 2022.
Washington’s 6th Congressional District covers the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas and stretches into parts of Tacoma. The next elections for the U.S. House of Representatives will be in 2024, and the newly elected representative will start a two-year term in January 2025.