All eyes on Eastside politics

State Rep. Rodney Tom, a Medina Republican, has switched parties and will run for state Senate as a Democrat. His move is part of a noticeable trend away from conservative Republican politics in Seattle's close-in suburbs.

Not only are Democrats winning more legislative seats in places like Mercer Island and Bellevue that were once rock-solid Republican, but key Republicans are speaking out against policies that are out of sync with suburban voters. Tom says he remains a fiscal conservative with a genuine complaint: "The Republicans have abandoned the business community on transportation. Their solution is to say no to any tax. As a businessman, I know you need to invest in things like transportation and education."

The final straw was the state GOP's shortsighted decision to support Initiative 912, which would have rolled back the sensible 9.5-cent gas-tax increase passed by the Legislature last year.

Another Republican lawmaker, state Sen. Bill Finkbeiner from Kirkland, broke with his party, not by changing allegiance, but by casting the deciding vote on landmark gay-rights legislation that languished nearly 30 years in Olympia.

Voters in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and Medina tend to be socially moderate while remaining fiscally conservative. Over time, older suburbs become more like the central city they surround as everyday urban problems surface.

Tom is challenging state Sen. Luke Esser of Bellevue, who has some explaining to do on transportation. In two recent votes to raise the gas tax to pay for road and infrastructure, Esser voted against both tax increases.

Tom believes the Republican Party has been taken over by Tim Eyman, the initiative guru currently promoting a divisive anti-gay rights measure that alienates common-sense, live-and-let-live voters.

Tom's party switch is the starting gun in this year's legislative races.

His challenge of Esser and another Democrat already in the race will make this Senate contest one to watch this fall.