Snohomish Democrats gone wild

After hearing that Rep. John Lovick [D-Mill Creek] was weighing a run for the open Snohomish County Sheriff position (incumbent Sheriff Rick Bart is the likely Republican nominee to Aaron Reardon in the county executive race), I decided to do some snooping at the PDC to see if any other big names were running for anything next year. Turns out, as a result of term limits, several big-name Democrats are already signed up to run for county positions and another is weighing a run.

Former Rep. Mike Cooper [D-Edmonds], who lost a statewide bid to Republican Land Commissioner Doug Sutherland in 2004, is running for the County Council position currently held by Gary Nelson [R-Lynnwood], who is term-limited. Nelson also served in the legislature before being elected to the Council. The district in question is marginal, and Cooper ought to have a good shot at winning the open seat.

In the 2nd Council district, covering much of the Everett-Mukilteo area, Democratic Rep. Brian Sullivan has filed. The seat is currently held by Kirke Sievers, who is also term-limited. Sen. Jean Berkey [D-Everett] had also been considering running for this open seat, presenting a possible juicy Democratic primary. Incidentally, Berkey was appointed to her Senate seat when then-Sen. Aaron Reardon was elected as county executive.

Also, County Auditor Bob Terwilliger is leaving an open seat that outgoing Sen. Dave Schmidt [R-Mill Creek] appeared to be interested in, and probably will be even more interested now that he's out of a job to Steve Hobbs. The nonpartisan office already has one candidate filed, current Terwilliger elections manager Carolyn Diepenbrock. As for Terwilliger himself, I'm curious to see if he chooses to run for the Democratic Secretary of State nomination. He lost the Democratic line to Don Bonker in the 2000 primary, and while he would probably be defeated by my favourite pol in the general, he'd at least give the Democrats another credible candidate for the office.