Rep. Derek Kilmer Talks About His Career in Congress

Tearing things down is easy. Building things up is hard.”

Congressman Derek Kilmer (D-6th) delivered parting words to his colleagues in early December, reading a letter he had written to his children, Sophie, 18, and Aven, 15. The format was fitting. For the past 12 years, each time he flew from home back to the other Washington he wrote to them explaining what he’d be working on. He reflected on those 12 years in office and offered advice to both his kids and a wider audience. 

“Tearing things down is easy. Building things up is hard,” he said. Kilmer cited John Gardner, the secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the late 1960s, who warned that institutions and communities suffered from what he called uncritical lovers — those who went about their business smothering their institutions with love without thinking about how to improve them. 

“I’ve tried to be a loving critic of this institution,” Kilmer said. “And I hope you’ll find a way to play that role in our democracy as well and steward the places and organizations that you care about.” 

He wrote about the divisiveness in the country and what he has done to address it in Congress. “We need to figure out how to engage folks we disagree with,” he said. “You are informed. You are inquisitive. You can walk into a room of adults and make conversation about the events of the world.” 

He acknowledged the costs to the family that his job imposed. “I want to thank your mom for supporting me personally and professionally. I want to thank her for supporting our family during some tough times — particularly when I was in Washington, D.C. Though our marriage didn’t last, my gratitude to her does.” 

Kilmer spoke to Key Peninsula News in December, when, having turned over his office to successor Emily Randall, he was working from a cubicle. He said his advice to her would be no different from what he wrote to his kids. “Every member has their own agenda and approach. She has been a great partner in her role in the state senate and I am sure she will set her own path.” Randall is retaining many of his staff, whom he called top-notch. “They work for the people of the 6th district,” he said. 

One piece of wisdom: He spent a number of years in the minority and noted that most legislation is bipartisan. “There are moving vehicles,” he said. “Spending bills and defense bills usually pass. So, a lot of legislation happens in those moving vehicles. It can take a while to figure that out.” 

“Congress is like playing hockey against the toughest defense,” Kilmer said. He is working to get a few more pucks in the net before the session ends, passing a bipartisan housing bill, a bill that helps tribes affected by climate change relocate, and a disaster supplemental bill that could bring funding to rebuild the Hurricane Ridge Lodge, which was destroyed in a 2023 fire. 

Kilmer leaves with many accomplishments. He has brought millions of dollars to the district to create economic opportunities and passed bills to protect the environment and tribal rights. But perhaps he will be best remembered for his work as chair of the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (“A Story of ‘Shocking Function’ — Derek Kilmer Works to Fix Congress,” August 2023) and as co-chair of the Bipartisan Working Group.  

For that work he received the Teddy Roosevelt Courage Award from Issue One, a leading cross-partisan political reform group in Washington D.C; the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Legislative Action Award; the Democracy Award for Innovation and Modernization from the Congressional Management Foundation; and the Freedom Award from the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. 

The Rockefeller Foundation announced in October that Kilmer will join as senior vice president for its newly created U.S. Program & Policy team after he leaves office. The foundation, founded in 1913, supports initiatives in health, education and economic opportunity. It recently made a $1 billion commitment to advance a climate transition that includes those most at risk in the United States and abroad. Kilmer said he will both drive the strategy to shape global policy for that transition and lead the domestic program. 

“The capacity to work for an organization with a terrific and talented team with resources and convening capability was a really exciting opportunity,” he said, adding that the issues — climate, economic development, strengthening democracy — are where his passions lie. Although his work will keep him based in the other Washington, he said his ties through family, friends and personal history will keep him rooted in the state.