Ex-Washington GOP chairman Chris Vance to challenge Sen. Patty Murray

SEATTLE – Former state Republican Party chairman Chris Vance will announce his candidacy today for the U.S. Senate, launching an underdog campaign against four-term Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray.

Vance plans to challenge Murray as part of a Congress mired in gridlock and unable to make the hard choices he says are needed to bring down the $18 trillion national debt.

“The dysfunction in Washington, D.C., is nothing short of a national disgrace,” Vance said in an interview. “It would be wrong to blame all of this on Patty Murray. But I think it would be equally wrong to say she is not a big part of the problem.”

Vance, 53, will make his announcement in an online video and news release followed by a round of media interviews. A former state representative and Metropolitan King County Council member from Auburn, Vance served as chairman of the state GOP from 2001 to 2006.

For the past several years he’s worked as a lobbyist, consultant and political commentator.

Vance said he’ll advocate centrist, bipartisan policies on issues from immigration reform to health care. He pointed to his time on the County Council, where he worked across the aisle with Democrats to pass budget agreements and growth management laws.

Murray announced last year she’d seek a fifth term in 2016. A spokesman for her re-election campaign declined to comment before Vance’s announcement.

Vance’s campaign announcement is unlikely to shake the consensus among national election observers that Murray is a safe bet for re-election.