I wrote Wednesday that U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee’s resignation means that the 1st Congressional District won’t have a representative until the secretary of state certifies results of the Nov. 6 election on Dec. 6.
That would be true if this hadn’t been a redistricting year. The candidates for the position would run for a “short and full term.” The full term is the two-year term that starts in January. The short term is the last few weeks of Inslee’s term.
However, this year, the full term that begins in January is for the new 1st District, while the unexpired short term is for the old district. That means that the only way to fill both is to hold two elections, one for a full term in the new district, one for the short term in the old district.
Many of the candidates running in the new district don’t live in the old district, but they still could run for both because the only residency requirement is to live in the state.
The secretary of state’s office has yet to announce whether the state would hold two elections.
Inslee resigned last week to pursue his bid for governor.
The state can’t have an election before November. State law allows the governor to call a special election if a position in the House of Representatives becomes vacant eight months or more before the general election.
Inslee resigned a few days after the March 6 deadline.
The governor has the power to make interim appointments for U.S. Senate vacancies but not for House vacancies.
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.
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