PORT ANGELES — Sen. Maria Cantwell will be the keynote speaker during a dinner honoring retiring Rep. Lynn Kessler on Saturday, Sept. 25.
A public reception is planned before the Clallam County Democrats’ Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner at the Red Lion Hotel, 221 N. Lincoln St., Port Angeles.
The reception will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel, 221 N. Lincoln St., Port Angeles.
Tickets, which are $40, are required for dinner and Cantwell’s speech, which will begin at 7 p.m.
The evening also will feature awards for the county’s Democrats of the Year and a silent auction to help raise campaign funds for Democratic candidates in the Nov. 2 general election.
Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, has confirmed she will speak at the dinner honoring Kessler for her 18 years of service in the state Legislature, said John Merton Marrs, chairman of the Clallam County Democrats.
Kessler, D-Hoquiam, will be asked to speak after dinner. The House majority leader announced earlier this year she planned to retire at year’s end.
Marrs said all of the Democratic Party’s state and county office holders and local candidates will be on hand before the dinner for the public reception.
Among those will be Kessler’s fellow representatives of the 24th Legislative District, state Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, and Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim.
Van De Wege, a firefighter and paramedic, is being challenged in the Nov. 2 election in his bid for a second term by Dan Gase, a Republican real estate managing broker from Port Angeles.
The 24th District covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and a portion of Grays Harbor County.
Clallam commissioners
Also expected to attend are Clallam County Commissioners Steve Tharinger and Mike Doherty.
Tharinger hopes to replace Kessler. He seeks the position in a general election race against Republican Jim McEntire, a Port of Port Angeles commissioner and retired Coast Guard captain. Both are from Sequim.
Doherty, a three-term incumbent, faces Robin Poole, a Republican UPS driver from Beaver, in the general election for the District 3 commissioner’s seat.
Cantwell represents Washington state in Congress along with Sen. Patty Murray, who faces Republican Dino Rossi in the general election.
Cantwell is in her second term in the Senate, where she serves on committees for Finance; Indian Affairs; Energy and Natural Resources; Commerce; Science and Transportation; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Planning for the dinner has been co-chaired by Patsy Feeley of Port Angeles and Julie Johnson of Neah Bay.
Reservations have been coming in steadily, said Central Committee Treasurer Kris Grier, who added, three-fourths of the seats had been reserved as of Friday.
Reservations can be made by contacting Grier at kngrier@olypen.com.