WSLC’s Brown: Heck has served ‘with honor and distinction’

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 5, 2019) — Congressman Denny Heck (D-WA), who has represented Washington’s 10th District in Congress since he was first elected in 2012, announced Wednesday that he won’t seek re-election next year after he completes his fourth term as U.S. Representative.

“It is incredible work but it takes its toll,” Heck wrote in a Medium post explaining his decision. “Being away so much from Paula, my best friend and wife of nearly 44 years, can be lonely even when I am in a crowded room. At our age, however many ‘good years’ we have left together is not a growing number.”

He added that the experience of President Trump’s impeachment inquiry has also taken a toll.

“The countless hours I have spent in the investigation of Russian election interference and the impeachment inquiry have rendered my soul weary,” Heck wrote. “I will never understand how some of my colleagues, in many ways good people, could ignore or deny the president’s unrelenting attack on a free press, his vicious character assassination of anyone who disagreed with him, and his demonstrably very distant relationship with the truth.”

Larry Brown, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, issued the following statement in response to Heck’s announcement:

“Representative Heck has served Washington state with honor and distinction, and we are very grateful for his public service. He has been a true leader on so many important issues, from supporting the Export Import Bank to opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership. His actions in Congress have always been guided by prioritizing the interests of working people in his district — and across the state and nation. We will be sorry to see his service in Congress come to an end. But until then, we will continue to fight on behalf of Washington’s working families alongside Representative Heck for the remainder of this term.”