U.S. House
Washington has nine congressional districts. The 5th District covers 11 counties in the eastern third of the state. Elected to two-year terms, members of the House must be at least 25 years old, a citizen for seven years and a resident of the state. Both houses of Congress are responsible for passing laws, declaring war, maintaining the armed forces and setting taxes.
Term: Two years.
Annual salary: $165,200
For the first time in more than 50 years, Eastern Washington voters have a race for the U.S. House that does not have at least one candidate from the district’s population center of Spokane County.
Cathy McMorris, a Republican who won the seat in 2004, grew up on an orchard near Kettle Falls and currently has a residence in Deer Lake in south Stevens County. Peter Goldmark has lived his life on the family ranch in Okanogan County.
But he’s not just a run-of-the-mill rancher, and she’s not a typical congressional freshman.
Goldmark has a doctorate in molecular biology with post-graduate training in neurobiology, and he has developed new strains of wheat for northeastern Washington. He was briefly the state director of agriculture and later was appointed to the Washington State University board of regents.
McMorris was selected by other GOP freshmen to a spot on the Steering Committee and is a member of the leadership’s Whip Team. She also received key assignments such as a spot on the Armed Services Committee – significant for a district that has a large Air Force base – and was named the chairwoman of a special group studying the nation’s landmark environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act.
During her first term, McMorris has brought part of the process of the “other” Washington to Eastern Washington, hosting a hearing on environmental laws in Spokane, salmon recovery in Clarkston and forest policy in Okanogan. Like most members of Congress, she closely follows spending on local projects and claims some credit for Fairchild Air Force Base’s survival of the latest round of base closures.
If that credit is due, countered Goldmark, why was she caught off guard by an announcement the base could lose an estimated 260 people during the next three years in an Air Force-wide drawdown?
Her ties to leadership haven’t always been pluses. She donated to charity amounts equal to what she received from disgraced Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Bob Ney in her 2004 campaign. Democrats have called for her to give back money from former Rep. Tom DeLay, also.
While Goldmark has been careful about questioning McMorris’ integrity, he does make frequent mention of Republican leadership generating questions about the integrity of Congress.
Republican Cathy McMorris, 37, Deer Lake: Points to her first-term accomplishments and promises to continue advocating for Eastern Washingon.
Democrat Peter Goldmark, 59, Okanogan County: Promises to restore integrity to Congress by curbing the influence of special-interest lobbyists.