The Ninth Congressional District of Washington encompasses a long, somewhat narrow area in western Washington that largely follows Interstate 5 through the densely-populated central Puget Sound region, from Olympia in the south to Renton in the north.

Established after the 1990 census, the Ninth District is Washington's newest congressional district. It was originally drawn as a "fair fight" district. The first representative from the Ninth, Democrat Mike Kreidler, was defeated after one term by conservative Republican Randy Tate; Tate, in turn, was defeated after one term by Smith. Kreidler currently serves as the state insurance commissioner, and Tate went on to succeed Ralph Reed as executive director of the Christian Coalition.