Dr. Schrier goes to Congress, with whole new patient load
Voters in Washington's 8th District are found from the remote Stehekin Valley at the north end of Lake Chelan to such busy 'burbs as Issaquah and Auburn, and up to borders of Mt. Rainier National Park.
Dr. Kim Schrier, an Issaquah pediatrician for 17 years, is taking on a big new patient load as she heads for Congress. Opponent Dino Rossi conceded early Thursday.
In a sprawling district that spans the Cascades, voters in populous King County have sent Schrier to the "other" Washington.
It wasn't enough for Republican Rossi that he carried the rest of the district. He has now lost races for Governor (twice, once by 133 votes), U.S. Senate and Congress. The latest contest, once seen as a slam dunk, has turned into a sudden defeat.
But Schrier will need to familiarize herself with issues that extend to the far corners of the district.
Up in Stehekin, the road up the river into North Cascades National Park is washed out at High Bridge. The National Park Service won't reroute and rebuilt it although authorized to do so by Congress. Sen. Maria Cantwell has hiked to site of the washout, appropriately Car Wash Falls.
The 8th District has experienced the opioid epidemic from rural reaches of Central Washington to blue collar neighborhoods of King and Pierce Counties.
The Trump trade wars are hitting at Washington's export-driven economy, with tariffs causing most pain in the agriculture sector. "Our cherry farmers will never bounce back," Schrier told the election's lone debate in Ellensburg.
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