Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott says that Edmonds will be an important part of his district.
Washington’s 7th Congressional District, which McDermott has represented since 1988, will include Edmonds and Woodway beginning with this year’s election.
Redistricting took southeast Seattle and some of the southeast suburbs out of the 7th District and brought Edmonds, Woodway and Shoreline into the district.
McDermott said as he began a tour of Edmonds on March 9 that, although he is new to campaigning in Edmonds and Woodway, he is familiar with the area through attending Edmonds arts events and Edmonds travel writer Rick Steves’ programs about Iran.
McDermott toured Edmonds businesses with City Councilman Strom Peterson on March 10 and later spoke at the Edmonds Senior Center.
He said after his day in Edmonds that audience members asked about national issues that he had expected to hear about, such as the national health care law, but the most surprising question was about the possibility of coal trains coming through Edmonds, something that McDermott said he would have to learn more about.
Before he started his tour, McDermott said that he was accustomed to working with suburban cities, citing Burien, which still is part of the district, as an example, and said that redistricting would lead him to focus on Seattle’s north suburbs rather than its southeast suburbs.
He said March 11 that his district was losing one of the nation’s best jazz bands (in the one from Garfield High School) but was gaining a great one from Edmonds-Woodway High School.
McDermott said that he is confident that Democrats can retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the November election. He said that tea party-style Republicans who helped the GOP take control of the House in the 2010 election had distinguished themselves by what they are against rather than what they are for.
McDermott admitted that, with redistricting, he may not get the 83 percent majority that he got against an independent candidate in the 2010 general election, but said that he would be happy with anything more than 50 percent.
His only announced opponent is Democrat Don Rivers, who started the year with no campaign cash, compared to $96,427 for McDermott.
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.
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