Community Government
Rep. Randall settling in to her new role in a very unsettled Washington, D.C.
While walking the three blocks between her downtown Bremerton office and the Kitsap Convention Center, someone stops U.S. Rep. Emily Randall to ask how things have been in D.C.
A day earlier, House Republicans had passed a sweeping budget bill that threatens to kick millions of Americans off Medicaid and reduce access to food assistance. Randall was awake nearly 48 hours during the overnight testimony and debate.
Losing the vote was a major blow for the freshman representative and her fellow Democrats.
“It’s been a rough few days,” she said, “but I’m glad to be home.”
On-the-job training
After winning election to Congress last fall, Randall has experienced a whirlwind introduction to federal politics. The rapid and chaotic nature of the Trump administration, pushing the boundaries of executive power and slashing budgets, left little time for acclimation.
Rep. Emily Randall exits Little Bee Home while making a stop in Bremerton on Friday, May 23, 2025. Photo by Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun
The Democrat from Bremerton, who represents Washington’s Sixth District, is still learning the names of all 435 colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives and reviewing the countless binders given to her at an orientation five months ago.
Randall is a member of the minority party, which never happened during her time in the Washington state Senate. Democrats control neither chamber of Congress nor the presidency, leaving little space for Randall to make substantive changes other than stall legislation and offer counter opinions.
“I’m still trying to learn this new job while I navigate all this chaos,” Randall said during a speech at Kitsap Women of Color Conference in Bremerton on May 23.
Randall won election to Congress last fall following the retirement of Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor. She represents constituents across the West Sound, including Gig Harbor, Kitsap County, Eastern Tacoma and the Olympic Peninsula
Her election to Congress was by several measures historic. She is the first woman to represent the Sixth District and first openly queer person to represent Washington in Congress. Randalls says that victory gives her the opportunity to bring even more unique voices to the table at a time when using terms like diversity can “get your grant denied,” referring to a directive from the Trump administration to axe funding for research projects supporting “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Medicaid is personal
Speaking to the conference crowd, Randall described how, after growing up outside Port Orchard and graduating from South Kitsap High, she became the first in her family to go to college. Randall also devoted several minutes to speaking about Medicaid and how it benefited her own family.
Rep. Emily Randall talks with students enrolled in one of the NJROTC classes at Bremerton High School on Friday, May 23, 2025. Photo by Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun
For months, as the future of Medicaid has remained uncertain, Randall has repeatedly told the story of her younger sister, Olivia, who was born with the congenital disorder microcephaly. Caring for her required funding beyond what her father’s insurance from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard would cover. Medicaid helped keep the family afloat, she said.
Karen Bolton, a Bremerton School Board member, said she was proud to see another woman of color in a position of leadership. Bolton appreciates the work Randall was doing and praised her for having deep knowledge of the community.
“She knows and understands her constituents and the needs of Kitsap County,” Bolton said. “She can speak to any group of individuals on either side of the aisle and find common ground with them. That’s really the mark of a leader.”
Political fervor
As Randall has acquainted herself with her new job, there have been calls from across the country, including her own constituents, for Democrats to do more to stand up to the Trump Administration.
“People are very upset,” said Luellen Lucid, vice chair of the 26th Legislative District Democrats. Lucid was among the party leaders who asked Randall to run for state office. “They feel like our democracy is under threat.”
Large protests have been happening across Gig Harbor, Bremerton and Poulsbo since Trump’s election. On April 5, at least 2,000 people lined Point Fosdick and Olympic drives in Gig Harbor for a Hands Off protest.
Thousands of calls and messages have also flooded Randall’s office, her staff say. Many are asking what they can do to help, while others, worried about their health insurance, are calling to get updates on proposed changes to Medicaid. People are scared, Randalls says.
Randall’s town halls have also been well attended. A town hall held at the Olympic College theater in Bremerton reached capacity at least 10 minutes before its scheduled start time with at least a hundred people still waiting in line to get in. A second town hall was arranged to accommodate the large crowd.
Town halls
At another town hall held at Hilltop Heritage Middle School in Tacoma a week earlier, a packed house of around 400 people asked why the Congresswoman and Democrats were not doing more to stand up to the Trump administration.
Randall told the frustrated crowd she, too, was upset. But she emphasized that the minority party has few options available to it. That response did little to placate the crowd, who yelled “Garbage!” Later on another man accused the majority of Democrats of being “mice.”
Rep. Emily Randall stops chats with constituents in a Bremerton coffee shop on Friday, May 23, 2025.
Randall also took the unusual step of holding a town hall in Spokane in April, alongside the city’s mayor and the chair of the state’s Democratic Party, according to the Spokesman Review newspaper. The city is in the conservative Fifth District, represented by Rep. Michael Baumgartner, a freshman Republican.
Supporters of Randall have praised the Congresswoman for her communication and savvy social media use. She frequently updates them about what is going on at the capitol through short, Tik-Tok-style reels, they say.
“I believe her to be one of the most communicative congresspeople,” Lucid said. “She’s a very good story teller.”
In one of her latest posts during the long debate over the Republican tax bill, Randall spoke directly to her phone in an informal style, with the capitol building in the background, describing the past day of political proceedings.
“We’re going back because they are pulling [the bill] to the floor . .. the Republicans I mean are bringing it to the floor quick,” she says, pausing before throwing one of her hands up and adding: “This is a crazy way to govern.”
‘It’s pure chaos’
Frustration is also evident at home. Randall lets out a slight laugh as she asks four union leaders from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard how morale has been amid the uncertainty for federal workers.
During a roundtable discussion inside her office, the reps say the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce has caused large disruptions. Workers are unfocused and feel unappreciated. Injuries have gone up and employees – especially those with the most experience nearing retirement – have left or are drawing up an exit strategy.
“It’s pure chaos,” one of them says. “Everyone is turned on their heads and no one is happy.”
Kathy Osmanson, administrative vice president for the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers Local 12 — a union representing about 2,500 shipyard workers — was among the group at the roundtable. In an interview Osmanson, who has been at the shipyard for 24 years, said the level of uncertainty was unprecedented. They experienced a pay freeze under the Obama administration but nothing similar to this.
“Times were tough, but we were not facing such severe cuts,” she said of the Obama-era freeze. “We’re just blown away by the fact that they’re even attempting to do some of these things.”
The shipyard was hit hard by the first deferred referred resignation program, a Trump directive allowing federal employees to leave their job in exchange for several months pay, Osmanson said. Lots of experienced employees walked out the door.
Most days are rough
Another 443 people applied for the second round of that resignation offer, she said. The shipyard denied more than half because they were “too critical to lose.” Many still working there are concerned about losing their retirement benefits, she said, and onboarding new employees remains challenging.
“There’s a lot of instability,” Osmanson said. “People are just uncertain about their jobs.”
Randall ends the meeting saying that she plans to keep fighting but acknowledges the next few years could be challenging.
In an April social media post Randall wrote that the country was in the “midst of an aggressive constitutional crisis,” alleging that “President Trump believes that he is king and that everyone must bend the knee.”
Representing the district in Congress has been an honor, she tells one business owner during a tour of shops on Callow Avenue in Bremerton, but “most days are rough.” Yet much of the awe of being a congressperson – working in the capitol, seeing historic venues and meeting people she had previously only seen on TV – has worn off, she says.
With so much going on “there has not been a lot of space for that.”