Two Approaches to Congressing
By Joel Connelly
Since returning home from a stint as the Seattle PI’s Washington, D.C. correspondent, I have lived on the borderline of two Washington congressional districts. Democrats dominate, but differences in performance run deep.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., on my side of Madison Street, is a voice for the Seattle left, star of MSNBC and CNN talk shows. She quickly made herself a player after winning election in 2016, co-chairing and chairing the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Jayapal was a top Bernie Sanders surrogate in 2016 and 2020, and deployed Sanders’ endorsement in 2021 Seattle municipal elections. She is our La Pasionaria, urging resistance at the barricades.
The next door neighbor to Jayapal’s 7th District is the 9th District of Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. Smith is dean of the Washington delegation, a former (and likely future) chair of the House Armed Services Committee, and he has served a stint on the House Intelligence Committee. Less frequently on cable TV, he has nevertheless displayed killer instincts of a mongoose in taking on Fox News hosts. Smith was one of the first in Congress to endorse Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy. He asked President Biden to hang it up after last year’s Trump debate disaster.
Ex-Husky lineman and longtime Rep. Norm Dicks used the phrase “inside football” to describe his way of operating. It yielded outside benefits. I’ve oft driven into downtown Tacoma on a freeway he had funded, and hiked beaches at Ebey’s Landing and forests of Noisy Creek preserved with money in the Interior appropriations budget.
https://www.postalley.org/2025/07/07/two-approaches-to-congress/