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In Washington’s 2nd Congressional District, spanning Skagit, Whatcom and San Juan counties and dipping south to Everett, the reelection of U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen in recent years has become more of a box-checking exercise than a serious electoral challenge.
A member of Congress since 2001, Larsen in his previous election easily outpolled ill-prepared, underfinanced GOP opponent Dan Matthews 2-to-1. This year he faces a similarly unknown Republican foe, Cody Hart, who has proven even less equipped to mount a serious campaign against a congressional incumbent.
The lack of credible competition notwithstanding, the editorial board of Cascadia Daily News has no hesitation in endorsing Larsen for an additional term, returning the Arlington native to the Other Washington in what could be a highly influential position in the U.S. House, depending on the outcome of the national election.
Larsen, 59, a 12-term House representative who voted with the stated positions of President Joe Biden 100% of the time during the 117th Congress, according to one survey, is the ranking member of the powerful Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He would reclaim the committee chair should Democrats retake the House on Nov. 5.
From that position, Larsen, along with Sen. Maria Cantwell and other state delegation members, could play a vital role in federal decisions on matters critical to Northwest Washington. Among those are the eventual fate of longtime Puget Sound economic stalwart Boeing. The company’s very existence seems threatened by a stunning run of lax attention to manufacturing standards, causing consumer and client distrust, a plunge in stock value and increased scrutiny of federal inspectors.
In an interview with CDN’s editorial board, Larsen said he would continue work already started to help the Federal Aviation Administration claw back its former role in ensuring manufacturing safety. It’s an essential step, he said, for Boeing to extricate itself from a well-deserved spot in a corporate “penalty box” that only a complete shift in corporate culture might unlock.
Boeing had previously announced plans to ramp up its already accelerated production of some 38 737 jetliners per month at Renton to 52, before fatal crashes and subsequent near-misses revealed stunning holes in production-line safety measures.
“All that’s on hold” until the company proves it can produce jets meeting its former standards, Larsen vowed. “I think the last 25 years have shown that safety is a shareholder value, not building airplanes, building safe airplanes” — something he said he had expressed to Boeing’s new leadership.
“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Larsen said, noting that Boeing’s potential rebuilding of trust is in his eyes more likely to be a crawl than a sprint.
That’s the sentiment we, along with consumers across the globe, want to hear from people making the rules for key regulators in Washington, D.C.
Larsen’s opponent, Hart, declined an invitation to meet with CDN’s editorial board, submitting only written answers to Citizens Agenda questions that give little insight into how he would operate as a member of Congress.
Answering those same questions in writing and in person, Larsen demonstrated a firm grasp on issues CDN readers, and regional voters, chose as matters of primary concern.
He expressed outrage over the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade federal protections for women seeking abortions and other reproductive care services. He called the decision “a blow to our basic constitutional rights of liberty, privacy and equality,” and said he supports passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade protections.
Larsen also expressed support for term limits and a binding ethics code for U.S. Supreme Court justices, as well as a constitutional amendment to reverse the court’s decision on presidential immunity. He supports a renewed ban on assault weapons.
Consistent with longstanding positions, Larsen also emphasized the need for universal health care coverage. He vows to support reduced premiums for the federal Affordable Care Act, which he told CDN was “one of the most consequential bills that I’ve been part of helping to pass.” And he reiterated his longstanding support for safeguarding provisions for health care and other benefits for seniors via Social Security and Medicare.
We have noted and appreciated Larsen’s dedication to maintaining personal connections with institutions across Northwest Washington. Unlike some other current members of Congress, Larsen is a frequent visitor to communities in his own district, often with specific agenda items in hand. In the past year he led efforts to help the Lummi Nation and other communities break from the deadly grip of fentanyl addiction. He has shown interest in and understanding of veterans’ issues, transportation and other regional needs.
Hart, with an expressed disinterest in endorsements or vigorous campaigning, hardly provided the level of competition we would like to see in an election to a key position in a representative democracy. Larsen’s biggest challenge in the last two election cycles has been putting out fires of discontent from activists on his political left.
He has been criticized as too business-friendly by some sectors of the labor community, and more recently was viscerally challenged by activists decrying his tacit support of the U.S./Israeli coalition’s actions in the ongoing Gaza conflict.
With more than 40,000 deaths caused by that conflict, currently with no end in sight, those protesters and activists have a point. But so does Larsen, noting the difficulty of balancing U.S. interests between a longtime ally and the rights of Palestinians and other innocent victims.
“We need to stay focused in the United States as perhaps the only country who believes it can happen in a two-state solution, where a Palestinian state is, in fact, created,” he told CDN.
Larsen has earned the right to bristle a bit when questioned about the lopsided nature of his races, including a staggering gap in campaign funds between himself and his last two challengers. He has, in fact, dominated recent elections, but said bluntly: “It’s only because I work my ass off. That includes raising money. That includes doorbelling. That includes getting out and fighting for endorsements, and other folks choose not to do that.”
Larsen said he has had constituents ask, while he’s out doorbelling, why he does so, given electoral victory margins in the mid-60 percentages. “I get 63 to 65 percent of votes because I doorbell — not the other way around,” he said. “I don’t take anything for granted.”
He has not in this case. Voters should reward that effort by returning Larsen, clearly the more capable and dedicated public servant, for another term.
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