More state House challengers step up

The past few days have seen a slew of challengers step up for state House and Senate seats here In Washington.

Here is a quick rundown of what is the what.

+23rd District: Poulsbo Republican Larry Cooney, the executive director of the Bread of Life Mission, will run against Rep. Sherry Appleton (D-Silverdale).

+24th District: Retired Navy commander Robert Dutton (R-Montesano) has changed his mind. He originally declared his candidacy against Rep. Kevin Van de Wege (D-Sequim), but has now decided to take on Rep. Lynn Kessler.

+30th District: Federal Way Republican Michael Thompson, the former deep sea diver and truck driver, is running against Rep. Mark Miloscia (D-Des Moines).

+31st District: Buckley City Councilman Ron Weigelt, a Democrat, will challenge Rep. Dan Roach (R-Bonney Lake). Here is his statement of candidacy:

"I believe that by working together we can improve our schools, our communities, and our government itself. We do have the power to shape our future. We can create and implement an agenda that will result in jobs that will support a family, pensions for our senior years, and medical coverage which we can rely on. I will work hard on issues our district cares about including: education, public safety, transportation, jobs and the environment. As a city council member I have always placed community priorities over political partisanship, I will do the same working in Olympia."

+35th District: Marco Brown (R-Belfair) will challenge Rep. Kathy Haigh (D-Shelton). Brown ran against Haigh in 2006, but lost 61-39.

+36th District: The Seattle Republican Leslie Klein will run against Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Seattle) in the heavily Democratic district.