WASHINGTON — Democrat Derek Kilmer has been elected to a sixth term in the U.S. House in Washington’s 6th Congressional District.
The district covers Clallam and Jefferson counties, along with Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Mason and Pierce.
Initial returns on Tuesday night showed Kilmer taking the lead in each of the counties in the district against Republican Elizabeth Kreiselmaier. Both live in Gig Harbor, although Kilmer was born and raised in Port Angeles.
In early returns, Kilmer won 135,096 votes, or 61.8 percent to Kreiselmaier’s 83,314 votes, or 38.11 percent. In Grays Harbor and Mason counties, Kilmer won slightly more than 51.3 percent of the vote; his strongest showing was in Jefferson County, where he took 73.95 percent.
More ballots will be counted in the all-mail election as the week continues and updated totals will be on county auditor and Washington Secretary of State websites.
Kilmer released a statement Wednesday morning thanking voters for re-electing him.
“I’ll keep fighting for an economy that works better for everyone, so that no matter where you live or the circumstances you were born into – you have a shot,”he promised.
”I’ll keep working to protect working people and to ensure people in our country have affordable healthcare. I’ll keep fighting to defend Social Security and Medicare. I’ll keep fighting to defend our democracy and protect voting rights. I’ll keep fighting to defend clean air and water and to take action to combat the climate crisis. And I’ll keep fighting to defend every woman’s right to make her own personal health care decisions without the interference of politicians.”
