48th District Rep. Rodney Tom, a two-term Republican from Bellevue, has announced that he will seek the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican state Sen. Luke Esser.
“Senator Luke Esser and the Republicans in Olympia have moved so far to the right they no longer represent the interests of mainstream voters. They have become more focused on partisan politics than real results,” said Tom. “Running and serving in the Senate as a Democrat will allow me to be more effective at solving problems, making smart investments in education and transportation and ensuring fiscal responsibility.”
While I appreciate his sentiment, and welcome him to the Democratic Party, I simply cannot endorse his candidacy… not in this district, not at this time. Not only is Esser out of touch with mainstream voters in the 48th, judging from his voting record, so is Tom. And besides, the Dems already have a strong challenger to Esser in Debi Golden.
In fact, Golden, a former teacher and current curriculum and course designer for Bellevue Community College, nearly beat Tom two years ago, despite a late start and no prior campaign experience. She’s also yet another alum of my class at Camp Wellstone, which includes such rising stars as 8th CD congressional candidate Darcy Burner and 45th LD senate candidate Eric Oemig.
There is a common misconception that the 48th LD is a Republican district, but don’t let the likes of Esser and Tom fool you. In 2004 John Kerry got 56 percent of the vote district wide, and Dave Ross carried most of the precincts as well. Clearly, the changing demographics of the district, plus a strong challenge for his own seat from former Kirkland mayor Deb Eddy, are the primary forces behind Tom’s move.
Given the choice between a progressive Democrat like Golden or a moderate ex-Republican like Tom, I’m choosing Golden. And I’m guessing that in a closed primary, 48th district Democrats will choose Golden as well.
Still, I look at Tom’s flipping as a sign of things to come. Over the coming months, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple more suburban R’s either switch parties or decline to seek reelection. The realignment is well under way.
Debi Golden needs to to run for Rodney Tom’s house seat that he is giving up to run for Senate. I would love an all democratic delagation of Ross Hunter, Debi Golden, and Rodney Tom. Hopefully Golden will do that right thing. Tom can beat Esser.
Rodney Tom is a climber who stands for nothing other than a love of thinking he is in power.
Luke Esser is solid and hardly Far-Right.
Far-Right compared to what….Jim McDimwit??
RATS — Ship — Abandon.
Seems to be a trend.
There is already a credible Democratic candidate for Rodney Tom’s now-empty seat, Deb Eddy. Eddy is a former mayor of Kirkland and has a good chance at gaining the seat. I agree that Debi Golden should continue to campaign for Esser’s seat, though i think that because Tom is more ‘moderate’ it is more likely that voters in his district will try to pit him against Esser, who is far to the right of Tom.
Darcy Burner gets my support – nice summary of her positions and issues, however, checked out Eric Oemig’s site and see no position on a woman’s right to choice, or reproductive health? ummm…
Rodney Tom is hardly a climber. He is a firm believer in taxes for transportation, reproductive freedom, and a better focus on education.
Besides, Goldy, you don’t endorse anybody! He seems like a run of the mill moderate Democrat from the Eastside. I hope the 48th Dems give Tom a good look.
Party switching shows that the GOP brand is losing it’s luster. Republicans used to be able to get elected no problem on the Eastside. Now it’s real work. I’m glad to have him, and I’ll support the strongest candidate against Luke Esser (regardless of previous party affiliation).
Golden for House.
Tom for Senate.
This is goodness!
Scooped! Should have know. ;^)
…”known”
I find it interesting that Dave Ammons at the PI completely ignores the fact Golden is a Dem candidate against Esser already.
@2
Luke Esser is so far out of touch with his district as well as reality. His justification for voting against the Gay Rights bills was because it would lead to gay marriage and on his own personal religious grounds. I’m sorry, this is why we have a separation of church and state. Sen. Esser chose to apply his own religious beliefs upon his constituents. As one of his soon to be former constituents, I am greatly offended by that. And I look forward to any rational minded opponent who will knock Sen. Esser out of office.
While some think that Rep. Tom is too far to the right to be a good democrat, I would disagree. We need good people of varying opinions to come together to solve the problems of this great state. I don’t believe he will be a Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller Democrat, so I don’t think we have anything to fear in that regard. Here is the thing, if all we have are democrats that the extreme left approves of, I don’t think we will be better off. Extremism, in any way, is a bad thing.
Rep. Tom has done a good job for the 48th district and I would hope that his replacement for his current position will be equally as good.
To replace Rep. Tom’s House position, can we get a clone of Rep. Hunter?
I might just have to mark the Democrat box this September (or is it August) for Rodney Tom in the primary. Debi Golden is too far to the left for the 48th, regardless of what party labels we are using here. She was gung ho to knock out a moderate Republican like Tom back in 2004.
The one big advantage that Luke Esser has in this race is that he is the only candidate who isn’t from the extremely rich areas of the 48th district. In fact, the only member of the current delegation who is not.
Rodney Tom lives in Medina. Ross Hunter, the other representative, lives in Medina. Debi Golden lives in a rich section of Bellevue right across the city limit sign from Medina.
Luke Esser lives in east Bellevue, right off of 156th avenue and pretty close to Crossroads. There are a lot more voters in the less wealthy parts of the 48th, than there are in Medina and the pricey sections of Bellevue with the million dollar plus homes. Not only that, but Democrats tend to be stronger in the middle income parts of the 48th, like east Bellevue. But folks here will be inclined to vote for their neighbor Luke Esser over someone from Medina any day of the week, even if Esser is a Republican.
On the other hand, I might just mark the box for Debi Golden, to make sure that Rodney Tom doesn’t get the Democrat nomination. Send a message to other moderate Republicans that they should stay in the party and fight for change from within. Crossing over to the Democrats doesn’t do any good, since the Democrats will always want the furthest left candidate who they can reasonably put on the ballot.
Too bad Tom isn’t challenging Esser for the GOP nomination.
Tom seems to have been great on pretty much all of the democratic issues in the district. Plus, I think the story of the Republican party not being able to accomodate moderates is fantastic. Great news and I’m much more optimistic about possibly picking off Esser with an incumbent v. incumbent.
> Too bad Tom isn’t challenging Esser for the GOP nomination.
He would lose. Given a choice, Republican primaries will go for the wingnut nearly every time — that was the point their spending the past couple decades getting control of all of the lower levels of the party.
The only way those folks will be displaced (thus giving moderates a chance to take back their party) is if they lose elections and continue to lose elections — meaning Democrats winning and continuing to win — but that’s going to take a while. As long as they’ve got an incumbent who keeps winning, they have no incentive to change anything.
Pope @12,
Man… there go the R’s again… immediately resorting to class warfare.
(And actually, Esser lives in Olympia.)
This is a great sign. The democratic party is the party with a tent big enough for moderate suburban Democrats while Esser has emerged as the acidic leader of the right wing agenda in the Senate. He reminded many in Olympia of Jim West in the debate over gay rights. Hmmmm, why would that be???
As for who should do what: Well, we should have a democratic primary and then unite behind the winner in opposition of Esser.
The end result will be a net gain of one in both the house and senate.
Pope @12,
Are you going to declare yourself as a Democrat then? Wouldn’t that be lying?
I guess that’s the Republican way these days.
The GOP brand name doesn’t market very well these days.
2
Hey Cynical, thanks for the tip — anybody you don’t like must be okay!
12
Yeah, you R’s are great at punishing any R’s who deviate from The Party Line. Sorry, Richard, Tom is a D now so you guys don’t have jurisdiction to burn him at the stake.
Rodney Tom left a bad taste in my mouth last election. I live in the 48th, and his supporters took down signs I put up and replaced them with their own.
Also… his name is sort of hypnotic.
Rodney Tom Rodney, Tom. Rodney-Tom Rodney Rodney Tom Rodney Tom.
I don’t recall being too enamored of his positions either.
Goldy @ 15
You think Luke Esser lives in Olympia? Not according to Stefan’s handy-dandy Sound Politics Washington State Voter Database.
http://www.soundpolitics.com/voterlookup.html
Type in “Esser Luke”, and you see Luke E Esser, DOB: 08/26/1961, registered to vote at 404 158th Pl SE in Bellevue. Mr. Esser first registered to vote in King County on October 2, 1979 (not at this address of course), and last voted on November 8, 2005.
(Did Esser skip the school levy election on February 7, 2006? Hard to say. I voted in that election, and my last voting date is also November 8, 2005. Probably, the voting in that election has not yet been credited in this database.)
21 – keep in mind his supporters in the last election were the base right wingnuts.
5 – Oemig is very pro-choice – have you ever seen his TV show Moral Politics?
With all of the procedural motions this session – including the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage – no one can honestly say the WA GOP is “moderate” as a policy, they are as far right as Falwell. Just look at Ken Hutcherson and Joe Fuiten – they control a significant portion of the party platform through their church members.
It’s no wonder Tom flipped. I wonder who’s next…
Doesn’t Luke Esser work for the State Attorney General now, i.e. Rob McKenna? Where is his office there? The Washington State Bar Association directory lists Mr. Esser’s address as the P.O. Box in Olympia for his State Senate office. The on-line state employee directory lists Esser with the AG’s office, and a Seattle telephone number of 206-389-2541.
What in the HELL is Rob McKenna doing by hiring a state legislator to work as an Assistant Attorney General?
Christine Gregoire never did such a thing. Ken Eikenberry never did such a thing. Slade Gorton never did such a thing. Had I been elected, I would have never done such a thing.
What exactly does Luke Esser do for the State Attorney General’s office, anyway? He has never really represented anyone in court before, in spite of being admitted to the Bar in 1989. He worked a while as a bailiff in King County Superior Court, and also did some pro bono work for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in one of their internship programs. And he was on McKenna’s County Council staff from 1996 to 2004.
What kind of money is Esser getting paid for his work? Did Christine Gregoire have anyone working in a similar position when she was Attorney General?
The only reason Rodney flipped is because he’s running scared–he can’t beat the former mayor of Kirkland. He’s still going to try and go to Olympia, and get his pockets lined with his pro real-estate development bills (he’s a real-estate agent of course!!). Debi Golden however remians the only true Democrat in this race and any progresive voter will see right through Rodney’s scheme. PS–check a map–she doesn’t live right across the street from Medina.
I agree. Rodney is still going to get his butt handed to him by the real Democrat in the primary, Debi Golden. So there will be no Luke v. Rodney.
TrueDem @ 26
You’re right. Debi Golden doesn’t live right across the street from Medina. She lives right across the street from Clyde Hill. 98th Avenue NE is the boundary line where she lives, and she is the first house to the east of 98th Avenue NE. My mistake. But same difference.
As for the former mayor of Kirkland, I would point out that a “Mayor” in council-run cities like Bellevue and Kirkland is merely the presiding officer of the city council. It would be more impressive to consider a full-time mayor, such as those in Redmond or Seattle. The vast majority of Kirkland is in the 45th district, and not the 48th. Relatively little of the 48th district is composed of Kirkland precincts.
All i can say is this can only be viewed as bad news for the Rethugs. They are abandoning ship. They are weak, impotent and utterly ineffective. Maybe all you righties should move to Alabama, Texas or some other third world country where you can legislate religion and leave our state the fuck alone. You’re obviously out of the mainstream and not welcome here.
Pardon me for asking, but how can the Dems trust this guy? Looks like he’s changing parties so that he can stay in office and have a nice, cushy job. Who’s to say he won’t flip-flop again when he perceives a change in the political climate?
When is Goldy going to “out” the unnamed GOP state senator that he had hinted, threatened, boasted and intimated about so many times? I say this will probably happen some time in October. Definitely not right now, since Goldy wouldn’t want the senator to retire or otherwise allow the GOP to nominate someone less vulnerable. The “outing” will be saved so it can be effective to alienate the GOP base and assist the Democrat nominee in November.
Rodney just gave Esser a nice helpful boost by forcing Debi into a race with Rodney, too. What are Rodney’s real motives?
We are such a welcoming group arn’t we? The first thing we do to a new Democrat is attach him! Perhaps many of you are unfamiliar with Rep. Tom’s record in Olympia or perhaps you are too rabidly and blindly paritsan to see reality for what it is. Rep. Tom has already been with us on many issues and now that he is a part of our party that will only increase. The formula for expandind the Democratic majority involves not only recruiting new voters but also former Republicans. We should embrace newcomers to our party — not attach them. We need moderates in our party, the Republicans are pushing them out — and we need to make sure they feel welcome in our party. You can vote for whomerver you like in the primary, however their is no need to tear apart a fellow Democrat. We have a choice of two good Democrats. Let’s show moderates that they are welcome in this party. Let’s welcome Rep. Tom.
I agree with Luc @ 33
Tom is already getting unofficial endorsements from Democratic Leadership, and he apparently talked with them for some time about becoming a Democrat. The Dems realize that they will have a great shot at adding another seat.
I don’t know if he’s as good as Debi, but at least we have a couple of good canidates who can win.
@ 31 Sounds like a great plan!
31
Richard – I can’t speak for Goldy, but outing is not keen in gay circles.
Jim West was outed by a family consortia in Spokane who took him down after he opposed their downtown business deals.
There are by simple math more that four Queers in the legislature. The most closeted are three lesbians.
And one transgendered person.
Richard, your friends are safe. But you need to help them like themselves – self oppression is not a nice psyche space. Very damaging and scary for those locked into a parody of theri own lives.
In Pride, Big Homo Bob
Update: Went to the 48th district meeting.
Rodney Tom was there as was Debi Golden.
It got a little heated in the first half hour. Clearly there is a lot of misgiving about the situation. State Democrats were there vouching for Tom’s legislative record. It seems like a case of no good answer, but apparently the state has been talking to Tom for a while, but Debi Golden only really found out the day Tom switched and it was just kind of dumped on her. This after she was recruited to be a candidate. Really sucks. The general sense of the meeting seemed to be that we’re going to let the primary resolve this.
Well I am sure it was a tough situation to work out at a dist meeting so soon after the news broke. It is good to hear that cooler heads prevailed. This will be a great year for your district even though one of the quality democrats will have to loose.
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