Democratic 21st District state Rep. Marko Liias now has a second Republican challenger.
He’s Alan Tagle, a 27-year-old Edmonds businessman, who told me Monday that he would better represent the district than either Liias or tea-party activist Elizabeth Scott, who has been running for nearly a year.
Tagle said that he had chosen to challenge Liias, rather than Sen. Paull Shin, who doesn’t yet have an opponent, because Liias is the most vulnerable of the three district Democratic incumbents.
He said that he isn’t concerned about either Liias or Scott having a head start in fundraising because both already have spent most of what they have raised.
This is Tagle’s second run for the Legislature. He lost to then-Rep. Brian Sullivan in 2004.
After Sullivan resigned in 2007 to take a position on the County Council, Liias was appointed to the seat before winning election in 2008.
The 21st District includes most of Edmonds, plus Lynnwood and Mukilteo.
21st District Democrats renominate incumbents
Democratic precinct committee officers from the 21st District have nominated all three incumbents for the district’s legislative positions.
At a recent convention, the PCOs nominated Shin, Liias and state Rep. Mary Helen Roberts.
Roberts’ opponent is Mukilteo Republican Ed Borey. Shin has no announced opponent.
Candidates for open seats
Candidates are scrambling to run for seats that retiring legislators are vacating.
In the 32nd District, state Rep. Maralyn Chase’s decision to run for the senate seat that Darlene Fairley is vacating left Chase’s seat open.
Former Shoreline City Councilwoman Cindy Ryu has announced for the House seat that Chase now holds.
Both will seek the approval of the 32nd District Democrats May 12.
Someone recently gave me a list of nearly a dozen people who may run against either Chase or Ryu.
In the 1st District, Mountlake Terrace resident Luis Moscoso is running with the blessing of retiring Democratic state Rep. Mark Ericks.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray proposed Ericks to be U.S. marshal for Western Washington last year, but Moscoso said Monday that partisan bickering in Congress has delayed the nomination along with many others.
Moscoso, the state Democratic Party secretary, told me that Ericks attended the Moscoso campaign kick-off event two weeks ago.
Moscoso and Republican Heidi Munson are the only confirmed candidates for Ericks’ position.
Four Democrats and a Republican have declared for the seat that Democratic Rep. Al O’Brien now holds.
District Democratic PCOs will decide whom to back May 13.
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@verizon.net.
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