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Thursday, December 29, 2011

2012 / Election Liias Withdraws from 1st Congressional District Race after Being Drawn Out of District

Posted by Goldy on Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 1:19 PM

A day after new congressional redistricting maps showed him well outside the district, state Rep. Marko Liias has emailed supporters announcing he is withdrawing from the race to replace Rep. Jay Inslee.

"Some have suggested that I move to this new district and run anyway," Liias wrote supporters, "but that is not who I am."

Liias's hometown of Edmonds is now tucked inside Rep. Jim McDermott's newly redrawn 7th CD. I wouldn't be surprised to see Liias, one of the more liberal members of the state House, run for that seat when the 75-year-old McDermott eventually retires.

It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the field shakes out over the coming months. The new 1st CD is less Democratic than originally expected, and geographically huge. It's gonna take a lot of hard work to run this race right. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple more hopefuls drop out well in advance of the primary, and possibly one more—current Department of Revenue director Suzan DelBene—jump in.

Comments (6) RSS

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Maybe one of his chins can run in another district?

Posted by Gotta be lean to be green on December 29, 2011 at 1:24 PM

I, too, was drawn out of the 1st and into the second. Liias is still my first choice for my representation.
I look forward to McDermott's retirement.

Posted by MrBaker

on December 29, 2011 at 1:59 PM

MrBaker, don't you mean "into the seventh"?

When Jim steps aside (not for a while, I hope), Marko will be run over by the busload of Seattle Democrats vying to replace him. For starters, several among Murray, Constantine, Burgess, O'Brien, Steinbrueck, Phillips, ...

Posted by N in Seattle

on December 29, 2011 at 2:34 PM

O'Brien? He couldn't get elected dog catcher in the next round.

Posted by Kicker on December 29, 2011 at 3:08 PM

I am still in the First, upset that my preferred candidate is not, unenthused about the alternatives, and convinced that none of them can win in a district that now leans slightly Republican. How depressing.

Posted by Cascadian on December 29, 2011 at 3:42 PM

Cascadian (and others feeling blue) - as I said somewhere else earlier today....

...The new 1st CD - that's our cockpit, for better or worse. I would do almost anything within reason to gain at least a sliver of Bellingham, because any Congressional race here will make the recent close elections in the old 2nd CD look like a cakewalk by comparison. You'll have to have visegrip majorities on Greater Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, Woodinville and Mount Vernon (and preferably Snohomish). And any Democrat running for this seat should be stocking up on an RV and a LOT of running shoes. You have to sell it hard and retail in every little town in the CD, from Lake Stevens, Monroe, Ferndale and Duvall and Carnation to Concrete, Gold Bar and Lynden. You'll have to sell infrastructure like a circuit preacher to farmers used to seeing the election through he eyes of "culture war" or "anti-tax at all costs." You will have to be everywhere, well organized and utterly fearless.

But we can win the 1st CD, with the right candidate.

Posted by palamedes on December 29, 2011 at 6:57 PM