Former state GOP chair Vance may challenge Patty Murray

Former state Republican Party chairman Chris Vance says he is “seriously considering” a challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray in 2016.

Vance said in an interview Wednesday he was not ready to make an announcement, but to expect a decision shortly after Labor Day.

Others involved in state Republican circles say Vance has indicated he’s ready to launch a campaign.

Vance would be the first Republican to step forward to take on Murray, who is seeking a fifth term next year. She was last re-elected in 2010, taking 52 percent of the vote against Republican Dino Rossi.

Since winning the office in 1992, Murray has steadily risen to become one of the most powerful Democrats in the U.S. Senate and would start a 2016 matchup against Vance as a heavy favorite. Her campaign reported raising $6.7 million as of July, with $3.8 million cash on hand.

Vance, 53, was chairman of the state GOP from 2001 to 2006. He previously served as an Auburn-area state legislator and Metropolitan King County Council member. He’s also run unsuccessfully for Congress and Superintendent of Public Instruction.

For the past several years, Vance has worked as a consultant and lobbyist, and as an adviser to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn, a Democrat. He also has frequently appeared on local radio and TV as a political commentator.

“Chris Vance will give Patty Murray a run for her money, in every sense of the word,” said state Republican Party spokesman Steve Beren, who said he was not aware of any other GOP challengers to Murray.

A spokesman for the Murray campaign had no comment.

In a statement, Jaxon Ravens, chair of the state Democratic Party, attacked Vance as “a longtime Republican insider and partisan operative who has spent his career cheerleading for failed Republican politicians like George W. Bush …”