Sid Morrison

Washington has sixteen living former members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Don Bonker, Rod Chandler, John Cunningham, Tom Foley, Mike Kreidler, Mike Lowry, Mike McCormack, John Miller, Sid Morrison, George Nethercutt, Linda Smith, William Stinson, Allan Swift, Randy Tate, Jolene Unsoeld, and Rick White.  The oldest living ex-Congressman is the 86-year-old McCormack, a Democrat who served from 1975 to 1981.  He was first elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 1956, and served in the State Senate from 1961 to 1969.  He lost his bid for re-election in 1980.

Secretary of State Sam Reed: Politicker photoSecretary of State Sam Reed issued a press release yesterday in advance of a statewide tour to promote the August 19 "top two" primary in which he predicted that voter turnout for the inaugural primary would hit 46 percent, making it one of the highest in state history.

 "We're expecting a good, strong turnout across Washington," Reed says. "Our voters are intrigued by our new Top 2 system of voting, which once again allows them to pick their favorite candidate for each office, without regard to party. This should be very popular  - it's the Washington tradition to `vote for the person, not the party.'  Even though there are not a lot of hotly contested primaries, we believe the level of interest is very high in this presidential and gubernatorial election year and that we will get a good turnout."

Still, voter turnout in the primary has not greatly fluctuated over the past four decades, with each election's voter turnout percentage falling somewhere in the 40s. It topped out in 1972 with 49 percent, and reached 45 percent in 2004 and 1992.

Washington’s oldest living Congressman is 86-year-old Mike McCormack, a Democrat who was first elected in 1970 after ten years in the state legislature.  He served in Congress for ten years before losing his seat to 57%-43% to Republican Sid Morrison.  After Congress, she served as Director of the Institute for Science and Society.