About the Eighth Congressional District
The land east of Seattle's Lake Washington half a century ago was quiet countryside. Orchards and vineyards flourished in the rich, moist soil just below the rise of the Cascades Mountains, while farms and broad pasturelands spread toward 14,410-foot Mount Rainier like a living green quilt. As Seattle has grown over the years, people have crossed the pontoon bridge across Mercer Island to Bellevue and have made this Eastside area one of the most vibrant parts of metropolitan Seattle.
The Eighth District's largest population center is Bellevue, which is one of the most diverse areas in the state with 20% being from Asian descent and 25% foreign-born. Bellevue is home for approximately 115,000 people, who work heavily in the technology field. While Microsoft is based outside of the district in Redmond, many Microsoft employees choose to live in the Eighth District, including founder Bill Gates.
The Eighth Congressional District includes Mount Rainier, one of the nation’s last inland old-growth rain forests. Mount Rainier reaches a height of 14,410 feet and is considered to be the most dangerous volcano in the Cascades because it is very steep, covered in large amounts of ice and snow, and near a large population that lives in lowland drainages.
For more information on each city in the district, please see below: