The newswires are abuzz this morning with reports that long-time U.S. Representative Jim McDermott will announce his plans to retire later today.
Seattle Met speculates on who might step up to run for his office. The wildly popular McDermott is serving his 14th term in office, and has regularly garnered 80 percent of the vote.
A month ago state representative Brady Walkinshaw announced that he would run against McDermott this year. While it’s unclear whether Walkinshaw had advance knowledge, or if his announcement pressured McDermott to consider retirement, clearly Walkinshaw will be a strong competitor.
The question remains who else will throw their hat into the ring to run for a position that hasn’t seen a competitive primary in decades. Seattle Met speculates that Council member Kshama Sawant might run, as might Jenny Durkan and King County Council member Joe McDermott. Sawant would be an interesting candidate, as the new makeup of the City Council fell far short of her ambitions for a far-left majority bloc and is likely to continue to be an impediment to her agenda.
Expect more news later today (assuming McDermott does in fact announce his retirement) and more speculation on who might run.
UPDATE: KING5 covers the official announcement. They also say that Sawant “has no plans” to run, but name a few others who are considering.