Don Bonker
| Don Bonker | |
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 |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 3rd district |
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In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1989 |
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| Preceded by | Julia Butler Hansen |
| Succeeded by | Jolene Unsoeld |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 7, 1937 Denver, Colorado |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater |
Clark College, Lewis & Clark College, American University |
Don Leroy Bonker (born March 7, 1937, in Denver, Colorado) is an American former congressman for the state of Washington and a Democrat. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1989, representing Washington's third Congressional district.
He is a resident of Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Bonker attended public schools in Westminster, Colorado. He received his Associate of Arts degree from Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, in 1962; his Bachelor of Arts from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, in 1964; and completed graduate work at American University in Washington, D.C. Bonker served in the United States Coast Guard as first class yeoman from 1955 to 1959.
He served as aide to United States Senator Maurine Brown Neuberger from 1964 to 1965, Clark County auditor in Vancouver from 1966 to 1974, and as a delegate to Washington State Democratic conventions from 1968 to 1970.
Bonker ran for Washington Secretary of State in 1972, but was defeated by incumbent Republican Lud Kramer. Bonker was elected as a moderate Democrat to the 94th and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1989). He did not run for reelection in 1988 so he could run for nomination to the United States Senate, where he narrowly lost in the primary to Democrat Mike Lowry, who was defeated in the general election by Republican Slade Gorton. In 1992, Bonker again ran for a U.S. Senate seat, but was defeated in the primary by the eventual winner, Democratic Senator Patty Murray. In 2000, he ran for Secretary Of State again, winning the party nomination in the primary, but losing in the general to Sam Reed.
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