Holschen, Stevens in GOP primary

A 26-year-old restaurant manager filed Friday as a Republican for a Third District seat in the state House.

James Holschen Jr. said he wants to bring better-paying jobs to Spokane if he is elected.

He is running against another Republican, David Stevens, who also filed on Friday for the Position 1 seat. Stevens was unavailable for comment Friday.

The winner of the primary will take on Rep. Alex Wood, the Democrat incumbent, who filed for re-election this week.

In filings for Position 2, Democrat Timm Ormsby will face Republican Ryan Leonard in the general election. Ormsby was appointed to the seat last fall to replace former Rep. Jeff Gombosky, who stepped down to take another job.

Gombosky defeated Leonard in 2002. In that election, Leonard stressed his conservative credentials. He was against abortion and restrictions on gun ownership, and called for reduced taxes and regulations on businesses. At the time, he was working as a telephone representative.

Holschen currently manages Arctic Circle at Third and Cedar downtown and lives with his wife and three children in the North Hill neighborhood. For more than a year in 2001 and 2002, he operated the restaurant himself, under lease, but terminated his business arrangement to return to work as manager, he said.

“As a former small business owner … I believe I have the skills which will be beneficial to this district in attracting and creating higher-paying jobs,” Holschen said in a press release.

Holschen came to Spokane with his family in 1987 and graduated from Faith Baptist Academy in 1996. He is now taking government classes at Eastern Washington University, and is active in outreach ministries at Faith Baptist Church on the North Side.

He is calling for reduced regulation on business, tort reform for medical malpractice cases and more programs to help people get off welfare. Health care insurance cost is another issue he said he would tackle as a lawmaker.