Luke Esser

Luke Esser is the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. He was elected on January 27,2007, when he defeated incumbent chairman Diane Tebelius. Esser is a former senator in the Washington State Senate, representing the 48th Legislative District. He served as the minority floor leader for the Republican Party. He was defeated for reelection in 2006 by Democratic challenger and former Republican House seatmate Rodney Tom. Previously, in the 2004 primary he was one of four Republicans vying for the nomination for the Eighth Congressional District of Washington. He was defeated by Dave Reichert, who went on to win the general election.

For much of the 1990s, Esser was a contributing writer to Fantasy Football Index, the nation's oldest and largest circulating Fantasy Football publication.

Esser lives in East Bellevue, Washington and attends St. Louise Parish Catholic Church.

2008 Caucuses

Esser called the Washington State Republican Caucus for John McCain, on February 9, 2008, after 87% of the vote had been counted, and 200 votes separated John McCain from Mike Huckabee [cite web|url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/10/653789.aspx|title=Huckabee contests WA results] . Huckabee had been leading early on as the votes were counted, but after McCain took the lead, Esser published a press release declaring McCain the apparent victor [cite web|url=http://wsrp.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=7043|title=Sen. McCain Wins Republican Precinct Caucuses in Washington State] .

After more results were counted, McCain maintained his lead in the state. [http://q13.trb.com/news/kcpq-021108-caucusupdate,0,4559846.story]

Ed Rollins, Huckabee campaign chairman, directly challenged Esser’s move, saying the count was incomplete because the other 12.8 percent of precincts could tip the scales since McCain was beating Huckabee by only a couple hundred votes. “The chairman showed very bad judgment in stopping the voting last night when announcing John McCain had won, when there was less than a 200-vote margin between the two candidates,” Rollins told FOX News in an exclusive interview.

External links

* [http://www.lukeesser.com/ Campaign website]
* [http://www.wsrp.org/ Washington State Republican Party website]
* [http://www.wsrp.org/About/Default.aspx?SectionID=114/ Washington State Republican Party leadership biographies]
* College Op-Ed written by Luke Esser on [http://www.horsesass.org/downloads/EsserColumn.gifSuppressing Vote for Republican Advantage] , UW Daily, Nov. 3, 1986

References