Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Chapter 5
“This District isn’t big enough
for both of us!”
Monahan: I remember when Rep . Ken Eikenberry,
the Republican who was your 36 th District seatmate
for two terms (1973-1976), decided in the 1976
election to challenge you, instead of run again for
his safe seat!
He waited until you had filed for re-election to
your Position-1 seat and then, in a very public way,
announced: “This district is not big enough for
both of us” meaning Eikenberry, the Republican,
and you, the Democrat. So he didn’t file for the
Position 2 seat he’d held for three terms. Instead
Seattle P-I Editorial on March 5, 1976
he filed for your seat to challenge you! He thought
he’d have no problem beating you. But, you beat
him! Is that true?
Representative Sommers: Yes it is true! “The district
isn’t big enough for both of us” is what he said and,
I guess, that proved to be true after the election
results gave me the win! Going into the election,
I had no idea of his intentions to run against me
until he announced.
I was the first Democrat elected in the 36 th District
in 35 years, but, as I said, the district was changing.
If he (Eikenberry) had run against me in my
first election, he probably would have defeated me.
Pension reform was a major issue in my first two
terms. It was a controversial issue, but it had to be
addressed. Our system was in debt. In particular, the
policemen and firemen systems were badly abused.
There were cases of people taking questionable
disability leave or disability retirement, and then
move on to other high paying jobs elsewhere, really
abusing the system. When the pension reform
bill vote came up, we thought we had 50 votes, but