PORT ANGELES — A flurry of exclamatory e-mails between 24th District party leaders greeted state Rep. Lynn Kessler’s surprise announcement early Tuesday morning that she will not run for re-election, they said Tuesday afternoon.
By then, barely 12 hours after Kessler announced her departure to state lawmakers, the reaction of party chairs in Clallam, Jefferson and Grays Harbor counties hadn’t developed into a discussion of who might take the Hoquiam Democrat’s place, a niche Kessler occupied for 18 years.
“Right now, it’s only e-mail communication,” John Marrs, chair of the Clallam County Democratic Central Committee, said of a possible successor to Kessler, the House majority leader who was roundly praised by Republicans and Democrats during a dozen interviews Tuesday.
“It surprised us, so we’re all scrambling to see what our best possibilities are,” Marrs said.
“We’ll get some direction as soon as we can.”
The candidate filing period for Kessler’s would-be successors is June 7-June 11 — fewer than seven weeks away.
Gary Randall, chairman of the Grays Harbor County Republican Central Committee, said wait-and-see was the phrase of the day on Tuesday, but that could change.
“It seems as soon as someone says they are going to retire in this business, it’s like a honey hole,” he said.
“The flies start gathering.”
After representing Clallam, Jefferson and part of Grays Harbor counties for nine two-year terms, the House majority leader is leaving elective office to spend more time with her family and deal with recent health problems, including high blood pressure brought on by stress, and a recently discovered irregular heartbeat, Kessler said Tuesday in an interview.
“I wore a heart monitor for the last few weeks, and the doctors will diagnosing what this means,” she said.
“At the end of all this, they will be deciding if there is a problem. I’ll be just about 70 by the time I leave office and it’s time to do things that are a little less stressful.”
Kessler said she will not endorse a candidate for the Aug. 17 district primary, in which the top two contenders regardless of party affiliation advance to the Nov. 2 general election.
“I would stay out of any Democratic fray until the dust settles after a primary,” she said.
“There are a number of people I think want to run, but I’m waiting for them to come out of the wings to see if they decide to run.”
But however incremental, there are stirrings on the candidate front in Clallam and Jefferson counties among those thinking about or being talked about as possibilities to fill the $42,106-a-year position:
• Larry Carter of Port Ludlow, who already had announced his intention to run against Kessler, said Tuesday he will probably declare as a Republican, adding his candidacy has a “considerable” connection to the Tea Party movement.
Carter, 62 and a retired Navy command master chief, said he will make a “formal announcement” at a “Tax Day” rally at Sequim Avenue and Washington Street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in Sequim.
The event, he said, is “a Tea Party deal.”
• Democrat Karen Hanan of Port Angeles, the executive director of Arts Northwest, said there is “a possibility” she will run for Kessler’s seat.
“It’s just a thought at the moment,” Hanan, 55, said, adding that she’s spoken with Kessler about the position.
Other names floated during PDN interviews Tuesday included the following:
• Jim Buck of Joyce, whom Kessler defeated in 1992 in her first run at office and who served in the district’s other House seat from 1994 to 2006, said it’s not likely he will run — but left the door open.
“If God orders me, I will do it,” Buck, 62 and retired, said. “We’ll see where the chips land. It wasn’t a direction I was thinking of going.”
Buck has a backer in Ron Gregory, who chairs the Jefferson County Republican Central Committee.
Gregory said he will encourage Buck to run and will be urging others to encourage Buck, too.
• Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Jim McEntire of Sequim said he’s considering running for Kessler’s seat.
“Let’s leave it to where I am giving a bunch of options serious thought, including staying in my current office,” he said.
“I’m kind of betwixt and between a whole bunch of things.”
• Former Port Angeles Mayor Karen Rogers “could be a strong candidate,” suggested Dick Pilling, chair of the Clallam County Republican Central Committee.
Rogers did not return repeated calls for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Matt Sircely of Port Townsend, chair of the Jefferson County Central Committee, said there are “a lot of qualified potential candidates” and would not name them, but acknowledged time is growing short.
“We have to see if they’d be interested on such short notice,” he said.
But Pilling suggested that even though Clallam County is “a blue county,” with Democrats dominating elective office, an open seat once held by a Democrat such as Kessler may be vulnerable to a strong Republican candidate.
“Because it was a Democrat seat, I would suggest to you that the public angst against incumbents may very well work in favor of a Republican in this particular seat.”
But on Kessler’s home turf — Grays Harbor County — Republicans and Democrats seemed content with just letting things be for now.
Randy Dutton, 53, of Montesano, whom Kessler defeated by a 2-1 margin in 2008, is “probably not going to do it,” Dutton said of running again, though he said he “would have a much better time of it now than two years ago.”
By Tuesday afternoon, he had already sent Kessler a congratulatory e-mail on her announcement, he said.
“She’s a classy lady,” Dutton said.
Vini Samuel, Grays Harbor County Democratic Party Central Committee chair, cited “a flurry of e-mails and phone calls” Tuesday morning about the future of Kessler’s seat.
“There’s been a lot of discussion, but no one is stepping out just yet,” she said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.