
	Chris Mulick has worked for the Herald since 1998 and has served as the statehouse correspondent covering state government and politics since 2000. He works year-round out of the Herald's Olympia bureau on the state Capitol campus. Have a question? Send Chris an e-mail and he'll answer the best questions regularly.

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Tuesday, Apr. 15, 2008

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Former Bellevue Rep. planning another comeback

Former Republican state Rep. Steve Van Luven has jumped into the race to replace Sen. Harriet Spanel, D-Bellingham, in the 40th District.

Van Luven was appointed to the House from the 48th District in November, 1983, and was elected after a year on the job but narrowly lost in the 1986 Republican primary.

He was then elected to the district’s other House seat two years later and served seven terms before losing to Luke Esser in the 2002 primary in a bid for the Senate.

Now Van Luven has apparently moved to Samish Island in Skagit County in the 40th District and is planning a second comeback.

Already, Democrats Ken Henderson, Hue Beattie and Kevin Ranker have enlisted to run. And Sam Taylor at the Bellingham Herald indicates there may be more candidates yet.

Van Luven was the Republican lead on the House economic development committee, or at least he was for the latter half of his second tenure, and was a central figure in debates over public funding for sports stadiums.