Port Angeles native Derek Kilmer, a two-term Democratic state senator from Pierce County, on Monday became the first Democrat to announce that he will run for the 6th District congressional seat held for 18 terms by Democrat Norm Dicks.
The announcement came three days after Dicks’ surprise announcement that he won’t see re-election.
Kilmer’s announced candidacy for the congressional district that includes the North Olympic Peninsula joins those of Republicans Doug Cloud of Gig Harbor, a Tacoma lawyer, and Jesse Young of Gig Harbor, a senior business technology consultant.
Candidacies will become official with filings in May. Other candidates for Congress are expected.
“Norm Dicks may be the best congressman in the history of Washington state,” Kilmer said in the statement announcing his candidacy.
“No one can fill his shoes, but I’ll work to continue his legacy of fighting for jobs and standing up for the little guy,” said Kilmer, who lives in Gig Harbor.
The 6th District includes Clallam and Jefferson counties and extends down the Kitsap Peninsula to part of Tacoma.
Kilmer’s 26th District state Senate position includes Bremerton.
Kilmer, 38, is vice president of the nonprofit Economic Development Board of Tacoma-Pierce County.
The 1992 Port Angeles High School graduate drew on his North Olympic Peninsula roots in Monday’s announcement.
“I grew up in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula, the son of two schoolteachers,” Kilmer said.
“The Peninsula was really suffering from job losses in the timber industry, and a lot of my friends had parents who were out of work.
“What I learned about economic development in college and graduate school helped me when I started working in Tacoma for the Pierce County Economic Development Board. It’s that experience that has helped me understand what government can and can’t do to help businesses create good jobs.”
Kilmer earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Princeton University and a doctorate in comparative social policy that focused on economic development from the University of Oxford in England.
In 2004, he defeated a Republican incumbent to be elected to the House of Representatives from the 26th District.
Kilmer was elected to the state Senate in 2006 with 59.9 percent of the vote and re-elected in 2010 with 58.8 percent, despite representing what he called the most Republican legislative district of any Democrat in the state Senate.
Others who are mentioned as considering running for the position include 24th District state Sen. Jim Hargrove, a Hoquiam Democrat who represents Clallam and Jefferson counties and the northern half of Grays Harbor County.
Democratic Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland and Kitsap County Commissioner Josh Brown, a Democrat, said last week they also are considering running for the 6th District seat.
Filing week for the Nov. 6 general election is May 14-19.