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When Congressman Derek Kilmer announced he wouldn't run for reelection, Washington's sixth congressional district became one of two open congressional seats in Washington State.

Now, two state senators face off in a bid to represent the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsula.

And a good piece of Tacoma, Edgewood and Fife.

The race for Washington's sixth Congressional District is next on northwest.

Now.

The sixth Congressional District is a very safe seat for the Democrats.

The last Republican in the seat lost in 1964.

With that said, the sixth is very politically diverse, with deep red areas where the resource based economy dominates and wide ranging democratic areas that win on population.

Steve Higgins has more.

The sixth is just as diverse as any other congressional district in our state, including voters there and here.

They're all concerned about the same things, like the rising cost of living or being able to access affordable health care.

But according voters in this district could be specific for those candidates who have to meet those families, who might have loved ones serving in the military or other voters who worry about transportation issues.

Downtown Tacoma, one of the sixth congressional districts.

Most populated areas.

It's home to the University of Washington, Tacoma and students like Ruben Lamb.

I would rather be in Seattle because I think I'm a very city oriented person.

Well, he thinks Tacoma is nice.

He wonders how congressional representation could focus investments that offer mobility while living in the South sound.

I didn't realize that the the sounder doesn't go from 10 to 4.

I was think.

So I didn't get to go to Seattle because it's a bit of a commute.

I want to see our roads taking care of transportation.

A key issue for many in this region.

Washington's sixth Congressional District is vast.

It stretches from the mouth of the Puyallup River all the way to Cape Flattery.

It crosses six counties, including Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, mason, and portions of Pierce.

The northern reaches of the district includes Port Angeles, one of the gateways into Olympic National Park, vital for regional tourism.

There's also the communities of Port Orchard and Bremerton, surrounded by five U.S. Navy installations, which are billions to our region's economy and thousands of jobs stretching from the coast to the sound.

Voters in Washington's sixth Congressional district hope the winning candidate fights to improve the lives for their neighbors.

We want to talk about homeless.

We want to talk about, you know, drug afflicted people.

You know, if we want to talk about people not getting enough food, you know, school systems where we're we're trying to make sure that families are getting their children fed, you know, outside of school.

You know, I that's a collective issue on the Kitsap Peninsula.

Steve Higgins northwest now.

It should be noted that Joe Biden won the sixth district by more than 16 points back in 2020.

Despite those long odds, Republican Drew McEwen says he's the man for the job.

McEwen served six years in the Navy and is a managing partner at an investment firm.

Drew, thanks so much for taking the time to join us here on northwest.

Now, I don't want to start with the negative.

I mean, you know, hope springs eternal, but I do have to tell you, and I'm sure you know the history on this.

The last Republican to sit in that seat lost his election.

What year was 1964?

Yes, yes.

What what makes you think you can turn that around this time?

Well, there's a few things going on that that have changed in the district.

And, you know, it's it's different than when the when Congressman Kilmer was elected.

So I'll hit on a few points.

One.

Let's start with, with the current congressman's tenure when he was elected in 2012.

That was the same night that I got elected to my state House seat, in the 35th district.

At that moment in time, within the sixth Congressional District, there was only one other state elected Republican in the state legislature.

And I was an angel in the 26th district.

Fast forward to today.

And what has happened, the 35th district.

My district has gone from completely blue to completely red.

The, the 19th has gone from completely blue to completely red.

The 26th, two out of three.

The 31st, now completely red.

There's been this under, tow, this current that's been happening.

And that was throughout the sixth congressional District over the past decade.

That has changed.

And I and I then my next point on that, that, that I'd like to bring up, then I say, all due respect to those who have run before me, because you put your life on hold to do this and, you give it your all.

Having said that, we have not had a sitting elected Republican run, and I not frankly, I don't know when it might have been the last Republican congressman, but there was somebody in between there, but certainly not in the last 20 years.

And so that's a name ID issue.

That's, I don't know if credibility is the right word, but, you know, having a track record, having to know, knowing, being a nonfactor, if that is an issue.

And so there just there hasn't been a strong campaign, in, in that course of time.

And so when people talk about the numbers and they look at that, it's vastly different than what you've seen.

And frankly, you know, credit to, Congressman Kilmer and Congressman Dix before them, before him.

Excuse me.

Both did excellent constituency work.

You didn't see they weren't.

Neither one of them were making negative headlines.

Right.

And so that's a factor as well.

So, this district is competitive, more competitive than, what the numbers would indicate.

And we're going to illustrate that here over the next two months.

Yeah.

I think coming out and saying that, Derek Kilmer was a good cat is a safe position to take in this election, no matter what side you're on.

Yeah.

So good for you there.

You know, don't ask me to explain this.

It's just a fact.

The Democrats are running in Washington state a lot on choice.

I don't think it's in play in Washington State.

I don't think it's an issue that necessarily wins in Washington State.

But with that said, just just to get it out there, is my understanding correct that you would not support a national ban on abortion?

That is correct.

Yeah.

The Dobbs decision returned the, the issue to the states.

This state has been abundantly clear on where it stands on the issue.

And, I don't, I, I'm not going to go against the voters on that issue.

Talk to me a little bit about operating in the minority.

You do have some, background in that in the Washington State Legislature, like it or not.

And chances are you're going to be in that position again.

So how does a rookie, freshman congressman from a literally the farthest district you can get away from Washington, DC?

How do you play that game in the minority?

If you get elected?

Yeah.

Well, you know, I've got 12 years experience doing that.

When I was elected in 2012, I went into, you know, into the minority.

And it's actually, it's it's an attribute that, I think and I wish that more, it's easy to say it's been in the minority, but I wish more politicians with experience because it forces you to be bipartisan.

You have to find, common ground when you're in the majority.

It's relatively speaking, it's easy to say you know, and get what you get your way and the majority things and say you're bipartisan.

Well, big deal.

You know, you're you're going to get your bill heard if you really want it heard.

In the minority, 100% of what I do has to be bipartisan.

I have to work with the, you know, in this case, Governor Inslee for the past 12 years was not my my candidate a choice, you know, in the past three cycles.

You know, it's when you take that to the national level, it's very similar.

I've prided myself on finding common ground and developing relationships with people on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers.

And when we look at it at the national level, I think it's one of the biggest, traits that I, that I bring to this is that I have the experience to do that.

You know, it's much more divisive at the national level.

And if you don't have that experience to, to be able to work across the aisle truly in a bipartisan fashion, you're not going to get a lot done for your district.

And I but I believe that I've got the ability to do that, and I've shown I can do that.

Talk a little bit about tax policy here.

Your opponent voted in favor of a measure to increase, to allow cities in the state of Washington to bump ups, property tax collection by to exceed their 1% statutory limitation.

She eventually backed off when that once the bill was spiked.

But get to me, talk to me a little bit more, maybe about a more fundamental difference between you two, where there's some daylight here on tax policy and how does that translate into what you take and bring to Washington, DC again, in the minority?

Sure.

Well, we don't know who's going to be in the majority of the minority come, come November.

I I'll say this.

I do think that regardless of which party controls the house, it's not going to be with a massive number.

So you're going to have to work across the aisle.

You're probably looking at a 5 or 10 seat swing in either direction.

But to to your point on taxes, you can't tax a way out of prosperity.

We don't have a revenue problem.

We have a spending problem.

And when you look at our lack of ability to pass a budget for over 20 years and operating under continuing resolutions, you never tackle the core problems.

And the last time, ironically, that we passed the full federal budget was under Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton, two complete polar opposites politically.

But they recognize that you have to have that fundamental framework.

And so to this point on taxes, until we can get to a budget and fully, and, and look at things holistically, you know, to, to sit there and say, oh, we got to raise, we got to raise, we got to raise.

Well, that's what we've done.

You know, by and large.

And and it has not solve the, the issue of deficit spending in our, in our federal debt.

I believe that when people have economic freedom that that solves a lot of issues for families.

And when you look at working families in this, district today, they are overburdened at the pump, at the grocery store.

The property taxes have gone up significantly over the last decade, to ask that they do that.

They contribute yet even more out of their family's bottom line is not an acceptable solution.

Your opponent says that the number one issue there in the sixth district is climate change.

The effects of climate change are very apparent in the sixth district.

How do you square that with?

I won't say it's a Republican position, but people would associate maybe the Republicans with maybe not outright climate denialism.

But, you know, it's it's not at the top of the food chain for for a lot of them.

Where do you stand on that?

When it comes to climate in the sixth district?

Well, first of all, I'm for the environment.

How can you be against it?

Right.

And I think oftentimes what we see in the political scene, especially in the state of Washington, is, is an either or choice.

And I reject that notion.

We can have, protections for the environment and have strong economic growth.

My opponent voted to eliminate, natural gas.

We don't have the electrical capacity to, to back that to back that up.

And it burns 20% cleaner than other existing forms of, fossil fuels.

Look, if we want to move away from fossil fuels, fine, but let the technology developed to to prematurely cut off what is, was currently existing.

And to suggest that maybe we remove hydroelectric dams and you have nothing to fill those with.

We're going to see it skyrocketing energy costs and have marginal, differences made to, to the climate issue.

If we really want to be serious about climate change, let's stop giving most favored trade status to to nations that are mass polluters.

China represents 35% of the pollution in this world.

Yet we're going to punish the people in the sixth district by removing energy choices.

That's just that's that's that flies in the face of what?

Of taking real action.

You gestured at this briefly.

In my view, one of the the biggest issues in the sixth district is economic development.

You know, you have some areas that are very prosperous and a lot of areas in the former resource economy that have just over the past, you know, I'm thinking 50 years have really suffered.

There's a lot of, there's some poverty, but there's a lot of just this day to day struggle.

There is in the sixth district, if you have a Navy job, great.

Some of those things.

But, what's your thought about economic development and the role?

Derek was very involved in this.

What kind of a role can a Congress person play in that?

Well, I think, you know, advocating for infrastructure dollars is a big part of that.

That's very costly to, to small communities to be able to do that.

I'm proud what I've done in the 36th district to that end, I mean, in my ten year, over $1 billion has got an infrastructure spending into the 37th district.

I look to do the same thing for the entire sixth Congressional District.

You know, when you look at small town of forks or, you know, areas of Grays Harbor and Jefferson County.

Yeah, it is tougher to bring in that infrastructure dollars.

But the reality is our state continues to grow.

When I got elected, I think we were at 6.5 million.

We're over 8 million people today statewide.

We need to have infrastructure in order to support that, create more housing.

And so, there's there's a number of transportation issues within the district that I believe we need to be better partners with on the federal government and the state government together and get those done.

And being an advocate for, for bringing in, new jobs and new new businesses, that's, that's vital to that.

Yes.

You've got a pocket in the, what I would say the, the Tacoma and Bremerton area that is, is pretty healthy.

But you look at the rest of the district, not so much.

We've got a great harbor in Grays Harbor that we can look to expand to.

We could put a drone facility there from the Navy.

There are a lot of things that we can look at to expand, to, to make, for better economic freedoms across the district.

Part and parcel of that is workforce and workforce preparation leads, right into education.

You've been involved in that, obviously at the state level.

At the federal level, a lot of Republicans, again, talking about the elimination of the Department of Education, where are you on things like that?

And again, what kind of junior congressman and freshman congressman do in that regard?

From Washington, DC?

Yeah.

Look, there's there's people in both parties that love to throw red meat to their base.

And at the end of the day, they don't do anything with those proposals.

You know, and when we talk about these mass eliminations or certain things like that, I believe that's irresponsible.

You know, if you're going to govern, you need to govern from an understanding of the impacts of all that.

But to answer your question, I'm I'm a proponent.

Let's we need to, reform the GI Bill and open it up to more trades programs.

That has a direct impact on the sixth district, with the number of active duty military retirees and veterans that we have in our district.

We have a huge shortage of not only airline pilots, but marine pilots, those that, get on board, ships and, come on into the, to the district or into the, the ports here.

They have to guide those ships in.

We are way behind in that.

We can do better through the GI Bill to get things done and open up those trades programs that support using the Department of Education to do that.

And within our foreign bases, where we we have a responsibility to the K-12 system there.

Drew, thanks so much for joining us on, northwest.

Now, a great conversation.

Hey.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

Emily Randall's a state senator from Bremerton's 26th district who is endorsed by Senator Patty Murray.

In the legislature, she focused on expanding health care and abortion rights before her election, she worked for Planned Parenthood.

Emily Randall, thanks so much for coming to northwest.

Now, one of the candidates here for the sixth Congressional District in Washington state.

A start with the start.

Give me a little bit your your biography.

Where did you were you raised?

How did you come up?

How did you find yourself here?

Great.

Well, I grew up, across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

On the Kitsap Peninsula.

I grew up in Port Orchard and the house my mom grew up in, both graduates of South Kitsap High School and, my grandparents on both sides found their way to Kitsap County in the 50s and 60s because the Navy and the Department of Defense offered opportunity, the economic opportunity and opportunity for their kids that they wouldn't have had in Texas and Utah.

And, you know, I was active in my community, and I come from a family of electeds, but I come from a family of folks who, you know, take care of their neighbors and are committed to building better.

And my mom was, president of my preschool.

My dad worked at the shipyard, as a ship fitter and, and then, and the engineering code and, but also like, organized the combined federal campaign charity golf tournament.

I have a grandpa was a firefighter and one who was a sheet metal worker, a grandma who was, a union rep in her hospital.

Housekeeping.

Wow.

So vision, so real strong ties.

Yeah.

The sixth district, then?

Yeah.

Born and raised.

You know, a community that I know and love, but I didn't think about politics from a young age.

So answer that question.

Why do you want to be the congressperson for the sixth district?

You know, my, my journey into politics started after the 2016 election.

I ran for the state Senate because I knew that here in Washington state, we had the opportunity and responsibility to protect health care, access, abortion rights, education, opportunities for Washingtonians, even as the Trump administration and, you know, the MAGA majority were attacking those systems because you've talked about not wanting to, quote, go backward.

Yeah.

In a potential future Trump administration, what does that going backward look look like?

What are you worried about?

Right.

You know, I worked at Planned Parenthood at the time of the 2016 election, so have been on the front lines of health care access and abortion rights for women and kids in the LGBTQ community.

I also worked at the Aids organization at Children's Hospital, and here in Washington state.

Over the last six years, we have invested in incredible health care expansion and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

Even before the, federal government took those steps.

We have invested in pipeline for medical training.

We've codified abortion protections and not only protected Washingtonians, but folks from Idaho, Texas, Florida who are forced to come to Washington to access essential health care.

And not only, you know, is that work at risk?

You know, in do you think it is?

I know the Democrats really want to run against Trump and really want to run on abortion.

I don't see any threat to it here in Washington state.

I think we're good.

You, don't see any threats coming from the Supreme Court.

If a case, bringing one of Washington's abortion laws is taken that way, if you've seen what's happened in Louisiana from cases all around the country, you know, the Dobbs decision overturned Roe as we know it.

Without strong federal protections, without court reform.

I think the states have it, though.

No.

Currently, yes.

Until a lawsuit makes it to the Supreme Court that overturns one of our one of our laws.

You represent a split district in the legislature.

Yeah.

And we're a very divided nation, as you know, political talk about working in a split district in the state legislature and how that maybe translates into Congress.

Yeah.

So, I grew up in a bipartisan household.

My mom's a Democrat, but my dad was a Republican.

So from a very young age, we've been having debates around the table, sometimes button pushing different ideas about what the right solution is, but with love and respect.

And that's how, you know, I have approached my neighbors in the 26 legislative district, you know, showing up on the doorstep.

So folks who are Republicans and folks who are Democrats, asking them what they care about, what they're worried about, what their hopes are, and finding places where we can work together.

It's how I approach my colleagues in Olympia, sharing meals in the Senate dining room underneath the Senate floor, and looking for opportunities for us to align.

Of the 193 bills that I've sponsored as a, prime sponsor or co-sponsor, 85% of them have been bipartisan of those bills that have been signed into law.

And with my seat mates, Republican seat mates in the 26 Caldara and Spencer Hutchins.

You know, we have really collaborated on ensuring that we're getting the maximum capital budget investment in our district.

We share the requests that we've gotten with each other so we know we're aligned, so we can fight for solutions that will help all of us.

And I'd say, you know, the Pierce County delegation is another really strong example of bipartisanship in the legislature.

We work more closely together across party lines, and I think any other county delegation, and I'm trying to find some daylight between you and your opponent that's not Trump and not abortion.

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's let's move those aside.

One of the issues is tax policy.

You know, you were in favor initially the bill got spiked, but for increasing, you know, cities and counties ability to raise more taxes by by moving through 1%.

Is there a fundamental difference there between you and and your opponent in terms of, tax policy?

Do you can the American taxpayer, the Washington State taxpayer afford more?

What's your take on that?

You know, the tax policy that I've supported in the state legislature has been policy that, helps to flip our upside down tax code.

You know, we you've seen the data, the lowest income, hardest working Washingtonians are paying a higher effective tax rate than the wealthiest Washingtonians.

That means that the burden of our economy and our services is on the backs of folks who are really struggling to afford life as they know it, and who are struggling to make ends meet.

I've been there.

My mom, you know, when my parents got divorced, my mom struggled to reenter the workforce.

My mom was, you know, and single mom and needed to find a job and to find opportunity for her kids.

And, you know, there were times when we didn't know how much food we'd have on the table that week.

I think there are a lot of families who are dealing with rising housing costs.

And a high tax burden.

No, certainly, you know, because sales tax is a high tax burden, especially on the working poor and on, you know, low income families.

And so when I supported the capital gains tax, it's to shift some of that burden and especially paired with the working Families Tax Credit, to put money back in the pockets of families who are struggling.

That makes our tax system more equitable, makes it fairer.

It helps people to achieve their dreams.

I also supported, an excise tax on some of the highest earning businesses to help fund our first in the nation needs based financial aid that ensures that those big businesses will have the well-trained workforce that they need, so they don't have to go out of state to hire, you know, folks for some of their high demand fields, two other big issues in the sector, as you well know, the environment and climate change.

You say it's you think kind of the number one priority in the sixth district.

It's such a it's geographically large of so many natural areas.

And, you know, not so much anymore.

But the old days are very resource based economy.

What is your top priority when it comes to, the environment and what can the sixth district do about it?

Sure.

You know, especially from young people, I hear over and over about the need to protect our climate.

We know we're an existential threat.

And, you know, our youngest Washingtonians, folks who have longer to live on this planet, are uniquely aware of the need to stop global warming, the need to decarbonize, and need to ensure that we've got clean air to breathe.

And in the sixth district, people are, I think, really tuned in to the impact on our environment, sea level rise.

There are communities all around the peninsula who are impacted by sea level rise.

You know, shellfish farmers who are impacted by, ocean acidification and ocean warming.

You know, hunters and fishers in our community, whether recreational or as a business.

And salmon recovery is a big deal in the sector.

Salmon recovery is huge.

We we know that we have, a natural environment unlike anywhere else in the world.

And we know that it's our responsibility to protect it.

It's why I supported some of Washington state strong environmental policy, like the CCA that, you know, puts pressure on the biggest polluters in the state to decrease their emissions and invest the funds from, you know, the carbon credits that folks who aren't, decarbonizing fast enough by invest those funds in climate resiliency work in our communities over the last 60s here.

So last minute 15 economic development.

That is another huge when I see in the sixth district, you go from everywhere for people doing real well to a lot of people, a lot of rural areas not doing well at all.

What kind of congressperson from the sixth do to affect that?

I think we can do a lot of things.

We can look at child tax credit, expansion to make sure that families have the resources they need.

We can look at, housing supports from building more faster to providing first time homebuyer support to allowing people to write off their rental payments, you know, on their income taxes.

We can look at investing in our community and technical colleges, which are economic hubs, you know, Peninsula College, Grays Harbor College, Olympic College, Bates Technical College, Bates Technical College, Community College.

Right.

These these institutions can not only be job trainers, but job creators.

And our community and the state has been increasing our investment.

But we need the feds to step in and increase their investment, too.

And I'm going to fight for investments in the communities that need it most.

When I'm in the other Washington.

Emily Randall, thanks so much for coming in northwest.

Thank you for having me.

The new sixth district congressperson is going to have to be conversant on naval operations, salmon restoration, timber harvest, open space protection, inner city youth and economic development.

It's a physically huge district that is as far from the other Washington as you can get.

The bottom line the travel is grueling and the cars odometer spins like a slot machine when pressing the flesh in district, so it's not for the faint of heart.

And we wish the winner the best.

I hope this program got you thinking a ticket.

You can watch this program on the web at kbtc.org, stream it through the PBS app, or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

That's going to do it for this edition of northwest.

Now until next time, I'm Tom Layson.

Thanks for watching.