The second-longest serving member of the Washington House of Representatives, Helen Sommers, is retiring at the end of the current session, according to Crosscut.

The second-longest-serving member of the Washington Legislature has confirmed she will not run for re-election. “This is my last session. I’m not going to run again.” Asked why, she laughed and said: “Because I’m 75 years old and I’ll be 76 in a couple weeks. That’s why.”

She's been in the House since 1973 which, frighteningly, is the same year we were born. Yes, that's right, Helen Sommers has been representing Magnolia, Queen Anne, Phinney Ridge and parts of Ballard, Crown Hill, Denny Regrade, Fremont, Greenwood, Lake Union, Loyal Heights, Sunset Hill for 34 years.

Sommers -- a Democrat -- has been chair of the House Appropriations Committee forever. We're generally not in favor of offices being held as long as this, so we're very happy to see Sommers ride off into the sunset. Not having her running the most powerful committee in the House will be a bummer for those of us in northwest Seattle, but still, it's been 34 years.

With the session ending in a few days, now is the time to look ahead and figure out who will run to replace the long-serving Sommers. We're not connected enough to have any word from potential candidates (though we'd love to hear about it, so drop us a line if you'd like), but we do remember a few years ago some nurse running a brutal campaign against Sommers and doing moderately well, though her lack of experience killed her. (We also have a secret hope that an old friend with political ambitions will try.)

Whoever it is, those running to fill an open seat in a reliably blue area, during an election year when every Democrat in the country is fired up to vote, coupled with a repeat of the last gubernatorial election, will make this local race really fun to watch.