Larsen recalls local impacts, aftermath of 9/11 on 25th anniversary

Larsen recalls local impacts, aftermath of 9/11 on 25th anniversary

Published 1:30 am Friday, September 11, 2026

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Getting your

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EVERETT — On Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, was at an event a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol.

He was about nine months into his first term in Congress. The host of the event said there was news of an accident in New York City. When another plane crashed into the second tower and the situation became clearer, everyone evacuated.

Larsen rushed back to his office and organized his staff. Then, Capitol police came through and started banging on everyone’s doors, which was the evacuation plan at the time.

His team went off campus to his chief of staff’s house, and everyone used landlines to get in touch with their families since the cell towers were overloaded. Larsen called his parents and spouse.

“You could describe it as panic, chaos, with the big unknown about what was going on at the time,” Larsen said in an interview on Friday, the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

In the days immediately following, Larsen doesn’t remember much. But he does remember taking the Metro back to his house in D.C. and being greeted by his 5-year-...