Who’ll succeed retiring Denny Heck in Congress? It’s a crowded field of maybes
State Rep. Beth Doglio said she is “seriously considering” running for the congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Denny Heck, who announced Wednesday he will not seek re-election.
Doglio has a fundraiser Friday for her state House re-election campaign and said she might make an announcement then.
“A decision to run for Congress, that is a very significant choice to make in life. I hope to make it by then,” Doglio said.
The 10th congressional district covers nearly all of Thurston County, most of Pierce County and a portion of Mason County.
Doglio is serving her second term in the state House representing the 22nd Legislative District. She is vice chair of the Capital Budget Committee. She is the campaign director at Climate Solutions, a nonprofit group that advocates for a clean energy economy. And she was the founding executive director of Washington Conservation Voters and served in that role from 1991 to 1995, according to her legislative website.
Phil Gardner, who’s currently Heck’s district director, told The News Tribune on Thursday that he’s considering running as a Democrat.
Gardner, 28, grew up in Tacoma and describes his values as deeply progressive. He worked for the last three years as Heck’s district director in the South Sound. Previously, he worked as Heck’s communications director in Washington, D.C. and on his 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 campaigns.
“Apart from Denny, I have the single best understanding of this district and its needs — that’s literally my job,” Gardner said.
If elected, Gardner would be the only member of Congress born in the 1990s and Washington’s first openly LGBT member, he said. He’s single with no kids living in Tacoma.
Other possible candidates include Rep. Laurie Dolan, an Olympia Democrat and Doglio’s seatmate; State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal; Sen. Steve O’Ban, R-University Place; Suzan “Suzi” LeVine, commissioner of the Employment Security Department; and state Reps. Mari Leavitt and Christine Kilduff, both University Place Democrats.
State Sen. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, said he’s not running to succeed Heck.
“I don’t want to live on an airplane two days a week,” he said.
Political observers mentioned that Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman would be a strong candidate for the open seat. But a few hours after Heck’s announcement, Wyman said she is not interested and will stick with her decision to seek another four-year term next year.
“I absolutely love my job and still have things that I want to accomplish and am going to need another term to do that,” Wyman said.
Kathy Orlando, chair of the Pierce County Democratic Central Committee, said she had not heard names yet of potential candidates.
“It was not what we were expecting for 2020,” said Orlando, referring to the open seat. “I’m sure there are a lot of people’s heads who are spinning, saying, ‘Should I do it?’”
If she runs and wins, Doglio said her priorities in the Washington state House would carry over to Congress.
“I certainly feel we need a national approach to solving the climate crisis, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions so our kids have a planet to live on. Housing is a huge issue, and those are two areas among several that we have to do on a federal level,” she said.
With Heck out of the race, the candidates who have registered and filed a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission are Republican Nancy Dailey Slotnick and Democrat Joshua Collins.
Slotnick ran for the seat last year as an independent in her first bid for public office. She is a U.S. Army veteran who owns a business that advises companies on security issues.
“It’s going to be a much more level playing field because, instead of running against an incumbent, you’re running against everybody who announces,” said Slotnick, who lives in an unincorporated area of Pierce County near Midland.
On his campaign website, Collins said he is a truck driver who grew up poor in the Midwest.
“Congress is full of lawyers, investment bankers and corporate consultants. It’s a playground for the 1 percent, who have no empathy or understanding of our lives,” he said. “Regular working people should be represented by individuals who live our lives and those who know what paycheck-to-paycheck feels like.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
