OLYMPIA — The North Olympic Peninsula’s congressman, Norm Dicks, faces more opposition than he has in a decade as official filing comes to an end today.
Dicks, who first was elected to Congress in 1976 and a senior Democrat, could face a member of his own party.
Paul Richmond of Port Townsend officially filed for the August primary on Thursday, as did a Green Party candidate, Gary Murrell of Hoquiam.
Earlier in the week, Doug Cloud of Gig Harbor filed as a Republican candidate in his third attempt to unseat Dicks.
Under the state’s “top two” primary system in which the two leading vote-getters in the primary face off in the November general election.
So Dicks could end up facing off against a member of his own party if Richmond outpolls the other two challengers.
A call to Dicks’ campaign office for comment on possibly facing a member of his own party in November was not returned Thursday evening.
Today is the last day for candidates to formally file with the Clallam County Auditor’s Office or Secretary of State’s Office in the Aug. 19 all-mail primary.
Ballots will be mailed to overseas and military voters July 20, and to local addresses Aug. 1.
They must be returned or postmarked by Aug. 19.
The 6th Congressional District includes Clallam, Jefferson and Grays Harbor counties, most of the Kitsap Peninsula and most of the city of Tacoma.
