A divided, dysfunctional U.S. House of Representatives will lose a workhorse who works for bipartisan cooperation with the announcement by U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., that the six-term congressman will not seek reelection next year.
“I’ve looked at life in chapters,” Kilmer, 49, said in a letter released Thursday. “I never looked at this chapter as something I’d do for the rest of my life, and – as I shared with my kids – I’m excited to start a new chapter when my term is complete.”
State Land Commissioner Hilary Franz is widely expected to run for Kilmer’s seat in Congress, and to announce almost immediately. A dozen years ago, Kilmer was able to preempt the field for Norm Dicks’ seat with a quick announcement.
Kilmer has been a well-regarded man of the House. He copped a seat on the House Appropriations Committee as a member of the Democratic minority. Unusual for a minority member, he was able to pass bills through the Republican-run House. When Democrats won House control in 2018, he was picked to chair the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.
Kilmer has chaired and co-chaired the New Democrat Coalition, consisting of moderate and pro-business Dems in The House. He crafted and pushed through the House Wild Olympics legislation that would extend Wilderness Act protection to more than 120,000 acres of Olympic National Forest land surrounding Olympic National Park.
There will remain images pointing to the quality of the man.
In 2013, Kilmer made a point at being at gates of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, in Bremerton, talking to constituents on the morning of a partial federal government shutdown, caused by the intransigence of Republicans in the House. The shipyard’s contract employees stood to suffer most from the shutdown.
Or as folks arrived at Pacific County Democrats’ crab feed, oldest continuous political event in the state, there on the porch sat Kilmer in earnest conversation with a girl bearing a “Support Green New Deal” sign. He spent a half hour explaining to her the actual work on the environment, from Wild Olympics to thwarting Trump Administration attempts to abolish cleanup programs in Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes.
Kilmer has represented, along with Norm Dicks before him, a needy part of the state. With its rust-belt mill towns, a great national park, and eight Native American tribes, the Olympic Peninsula has commanded – and demanded – attention. Its issues have ranged from water quality in Hood Canal to tsunami dangers to native villages on the coast.
“It’s been my honor to represent my hometown of Port Angeles and the entire Olympic Peninsula,” he wrote Thursday. “My upbringing – seeing the challenges facing our region – motivated my service. It’s why the core mission of my office has been to create more opportunities for more people in more places.”
It was amusing to note, in some Kilmer biographies, mention made of Port Angeles High School but scant reference to Princeton and none-at-all-to his doctorate from the University of Oxford in England. Congressional breaks would usually find Kilmer on stage in high school lunchrooms conducting community meetings. Both peninsulas in his district – Olympic and Kitsap – expected it.
Kilmer delivered no specifics on his future. Before being elected to succeed Norm Dicks in 2012, he served eight years in the Washington Legislature. He was a consultant for McKinsey & Co. and worked for the Economic Development Board of Tacoma-Pierce County.
Kilmer did not rule out future public service. “I’m a pretty young guy with more chapters in my life,” he wrote. “My plan is to ensure those chapters enable me to continue to make a positive difference. And I’d sure like to make a bit more time for those I love.”
He has achieved much. The modernization committee, nicknamed “ModCon”, delivered 200 recommendations on how to improve the creaky, often-dysfunctional “people’s House.” About a quarter have been implemented. The panel was known for meeting in roundtable format and allowing extended questioning rather than the usual five-minute format.
“The Modernization Committee showed that Congress can do things better when folks check their partisan agendas at the door and just focus on working together,” Kilmer wrote. The panel was disbanded at the end of the 117th Congress. Kilmer has since co-chaired a bipartisan panel known as the Fix Congress Coalition.
Earlier this year, Kilmer published a newsletter detailing his non-stop, almost frantic meeting schedule in Washington, D.C., as well as the many miles covered while at home in his district. The Olympic Peninsula has provoked grousing from members of Congress and has found itself in three different congressional districts over the past half-century.
Kilmer acknowledged that the work and travel load has taken its toll. “As nourishing as this job has been, it has come at profound cost to my family,” he allowed. “Every theatrical performance, musical recital I missed, every family dinner I was not there for. The distance I felt from my family for months after January 6th.”
More time-with-my-family is a frequent reason for leaving politics, frequently used by those in danger of losing their seats But Kilmer has represented a district labeled “safe Democratic” that President Biden carried in 2020 by a 17-point margin.
With Kilmer, the obligation seems genuine. He has for years written letters to his two offspring, Sophie and Aven, on his duties, initially chatty and lately of growing explanation into the importance of his work. “I tried to communicate to them that every day, in every way, I was trying to make things better for their generation – and for their country.”
As New Democrat Coalition leader, Kilmer did face some “corporate Democrat” flak from the far left. He faced a socialist challenger in the 2020 and 2022 primaries but was easily reelected. He made no apologies. “The New Democrats are the best kept secret in politics – a group of pragmatic, problem-solving Democrats who chase impact rather than headlines,” he wrote ‘Simply put, they’ve focused on getting things done for the American people. Our politics could use more of that.”
The low-profile Kilmer has stood in stark contrast a high-profile Washington seatmate, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. Jayapal chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, voice of the left on Capitol Hill. Jayapal can be found frequently on MSNBC and CNN talk shows, has shared intimate details of her private life in New York Times op-ed pieces, and been forced to walk back statements on Israel and the Ukraine war.
One puzzle remains. Kilmer twice passed the Wild Olympics legislation out of the House during the last Congress, with Democrats narrowly in control. But the bill never made it through the Senate, despite co-sponsorship with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash, and a Democratic majority in Congress’ upper chamber.
With Dicks and now Kilmer, the Sixth District has been splendidly, productively represented in Congress for nearly 50 years. When and if Derek Kilmer decides on a return to public service, the state should welcome him back.
Very nice, well written story about a fine man surprisingly from a cranky old P.I. Reporter. Lol.
As usual I learn something new.
Thank you Joel
As a US House district WA-6 constituent and ardent supporter of Derek Kilmer for years, I am sorry to see him leave the struggling and shrinking contingent of moderates in Congress but thrilled to hear Hilary Franz is seeking to capture
Derek’s seat. She has impressive climate and environmental expertise that would be a huge public loss if she choses to persist in an uphil campaign for governor when she has so much to bring to a vital national climate and environmental conversation.
Kilmer is very impressive. Maybe he should be governor some day?? Senator is within his grasp, but he’s probably had enough of airline life.
A loss for Democratic moderates but as a constituent and supporter I mourn the loss of Derek Kilmer as a rare voice of reason and let’s-get-it done.
On the upside I’m thrilled to hear Hilary Franz is going for Derek’s seat in Congress. Her climate and environmental expertise is essential at the federal level. Go Hilary!
Campaign workers used to joke that all Norm Dicks had to do to get re-elected was to send out a pack of college kids to put up yard signs. Derek Kilmer, by contrast, ran for re-election every day of the week, covered the 6th District like a blanket, met with constituents in the constituents’ homes, workplaces, and businesses, and made it a point to campaign and raise money for “downticket” Democrats in his purview. He “locked down” the district way tighter than Dicks had done. In short, he used the same playbook that Adam Smith had used to turn the 9th District from “swing” to “solid Democratic.”
I first met Derek in his first run for the State House of Representatives, in the 26th LD. The opening line of his campaign speech had me hooked. “Hi, I’m Derek Kilmer, and I’m running against Lois McMahan.” Lois McMahan was a hard-right religious fundamentalist. Democrats eager to be rid of her flocked to Derek’s support, and the rest is history. I helped organize a fundraiser for Derek on Vashon Island, not in his jurisdiction, and he has not forgotten.
However, Joel, this report could have done without the gratuitous shade thrown at Pramila Jayapal, which you can’t seem to resist using whenever you can. Please cut it out; it’s getting old and stale. Pramila is a “workhorse” in her own way. The district, and the constituency, that she serves is far different than Kilmer’s, and requires a far different level and style of representation. We can give Derek the recognition he deserves for a job well done without it.
Hey Ivan! I’m sure the Pramila people are not high on Joel, so she probably expects it and possibly relishes it.
Good article about a truly decent person and diligent public servant.
I just got the notice that Hilary has dropped out of the Washington Governor’s Race.
I’ve been so proud to be a voter in the 6th District throughout the 50 years of Derek Kilmer and Norm Dicks as our sober-minded and moderate representatives in an increasingly chaotic House. I love that Hilary Franz is going to run for Derek’s seat. Her expertise in climate and environment protection is sorely needed at the federal level.
She can be “governor in waiting” after Ferguson decides to either hang it up or go for the senate.
Well done Joel. I’m from third generation western peninsulas stock. Rep. Kilmer embodies pragmatic, get s&!t done Dems the region has been blessed with (Norm’s predecessor, Floyd Hicks, cast the original mold). I once shared a sausage making task force with Hillary and she too is a bright, affable lefty leaning pragmatist. I predict she will frustrate the hard left and befuddle the hard right rendering her the perfect choice to carry on the districts “get ‘er done” tradition