Johnson v. Owens

As speculated by many since state Sen. Stephen Johnson [R-Kent] confirmed he is not running for reelection to his 47th district Senate seat, Johnson announced yesterday he is running for the state Supreme Court. The question he did answer for the bulk of us politicos yesterday is whether he was running against incumbent Tom Chambers or incumbent Susan Owens (he and Chief Justice Gerry Alexander are friends, so challenging him would have been assholish). Johnson chose Owens, probably because she is more easily painted as liberal than Chambers, and will most likely face her in the nonpartisan general election this fall.

In all likelihood this means the other conservative making noise about running, Bellevue attorney John Groen, will challenge Chambers.