Rep. Dave Reichert (R)

The congressman from the 8th District is Dave Reichert, a Republican elected in 2004. Reichert was born in Detroit Lakes, Minn., but his family moved to the Seattle area a year later. He graduated from Concordia Lutheran College in Portland and then joined the Air Force Reserves. He worked for 32 years in the King County sheriff’s office and was elected sheriff in 1997. He was a national leader on gun-crime reduction and methamphetamine prevention. During the riots that accompanied the 1999 international trade meeting in Seattle, he criticized city leaders and the police force for inadequate preparation. He gained national attention for his prominent role in capturing Gary Ridgway, the “Green River Killer” who had terrorized the Seattle area with a two-decade murder spree that left 48 women dead. After Ridgway's capture in 2001, Reichert was featured on national television shows and in documentaries, and he published a book about the experience, Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer.

When Republican Rep. Jennifer Dunn announced that she was retiring after 12 years in the House, Republicans actively recruited Reichert to run. He defeated three opponents in the September Republican primary, winning the nomination with 43% of the vote. The leading Democrat was Dave Ross, a longtime Seattle radio talk-show host who stayed on the air until July. He won the September primary with 48% of the vote.

In the general election, Reichert argued that local law-enforcement agencies should receive more money and equipment for homeland security. Sounding like a talk-show host, Ross said that he wanted to be the eyes and ears of the public, checking “into what’s going on, who’s making the trades, where the money is going and whether it’s being wisely spent.” The national parties stormed in, spending well over $5 million and organizing visits by prominent leaders. Each candidate tried to portray the other as lacking in public-policy experience and holding views too extreme for the swing district. Both Seattle newspapers, with strong liberal traditions, endorsed Ross for his greater familiarity with issues and suggested that Reichert was too conservative for the district. But Reichert won 52%-47%.

When Reichert arrived in the House, Republicans were in the majority. He backed New York Rep. Peter King’s bid to chair the Homeland Security Committee and was rewarded by King with the chairmanship of the Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee, making him the only freshman in his class to chair a subcommittee. He won enactment of a bill that established standards for interoperable communications. He also established his independence from the GOP, a sound political move given his politically divided district. He voted to override President George W. Bush’s veto of the stem-cell-research bill and voted against allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In the 110th Congress (2007-08), Reichert took liberal positions on many environmental issues. He supported tougher fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks and advocated expanding the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area in the Cascade Mountains. His positions earned him praise from the pro-environmental-protection League of Conservation Voters. He also sponsored a successful bill to fund programs fostering intelligence sharing with state and local governments.

National Democrats targeted Reichert when he was up for re-election the first time in 2006. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ran radio ads against him a full 18 months before Election Day. In a competitive district where dissatisfaction with Bush would likely be a major liability, Reichert was unapologetic about inviting him to the district: “I know it’s controversial to have the president come to the northwest part of the United States. I don’t care. He’s the president.” Former Microsoft executive Darcy Burner, a political novice, was the Democratic nominee. She called Reichert a “Bush Republican” and “Rubber Stamp Reichert.” The candidates each spent $3 million, and together, the national parties poured in more than $4 million. Reichert won 51%-49%.

In 2008, Burner was back for a rematch. She outraised Reichert $4.3 million to $3 million, but he won 53%-47%. During the campaign, he had asked House Republicans to give him a seat on the Appropriations Committee to help guarantee his re-election. He was instead named to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in early 2009.