U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene has a big job, not just representing Washington’s 1st Congressional District, but also trying to flip the House of Representatives to Democratic control.
No question, the moderate Democrat is minding well the concerns of her district, which runs from Redmond north to Arlington and includes manufacturing, high-tech and agriculture.
The former Microsoft executive with humble beginnings negotiated to address the semiconductor chip shortage two years ago and now is working to protect people’s privacy, as well as making college and housing more affordable for more people. She spearheaded the effort to temporarily expand the child tax credit as part of COVID-19 relief. Now that it has expired, she wants to make permanent that tax credit that kept almost 4 million children out of poverty.
She is an original co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Reproduction Act, which would restore the reproductive rights that were the law of the land before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Though her district no longer includes Oso, the site of a horrific 2014 landslide that killed 43 people off Highway 530, she has been fighting to reauthorize the 2020 National Landslide Preparedness Act she successfully sponsored to avert future tragedies.
From the middle, DelBene was chair of the moderate New Democrat Coalition, working with other like-minded moderates to find solutions. She has taken that adamantly pragmatic sensibility to her role as the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Her job is to recruit and support candidates who can retain or win seats in the House. Currently, there are 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats with two seats vacant.
DelBene is challenged by five other candidates. The only serious challenger is Republican Jeb Brewer, a businessperson and volunteer building homes outside the country for his church and a nonprofit. He is smart, says he is committed to finding solutions rather than logjams and supports former President Donald Trump. He has never held elective office, but he shouldn’t start with Congress.
In her six terms, Suzan DelBene has served the 1st District, the state and nation well, and voters should send her back to Washington, D.C. Congress needs more leaders like her, on both sides of the aisle.