The Eye

Castillo served as campaign manager for Republican state Sen. Don Benton when Benton and Baird competed for an open House seat in 1998. Baird won the November election but Castillo's career in politics continued.

Castillo said he has spent 18 years in politics, working in Washington state and also in D.C. as Deputy Assistant Secretary for congressional and legislative affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and in the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush.

Castillo, who grew up in Lewis County, Wash., said he returned to Washington state three years ago to work for the state legislature and decided to form a career in financial services after the birth of his son.

Then, he said, he became increasingly concerned about the state of the national economy.

"I just decided it was time for a new voice for the people of the third congressional district and I'm throwing my hat in the ring and giving it a shot," Castillo said.

Baird sides with his party on most issues but is also known for breaking with Democrats on others. In Aug. 2007, Baird wrote an op-ed stating that the situation in Iraq had improved. In the same article, Baird still maintained his previous criticism of the war, writing that the invasion was "one of the worst foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation" but the piece drew fire from Democrats.

MoveOn.org ran a television ad against Baird and opponents of the Iraq war threatened to support a primary challenger against him. But Baird easily won re-election.

Baird has faced increasingly easy re-election contests, but Castillo notes that many past GOP challengers have been poorly funded. Baird's 2008 challenger, pilot Michael Delaver, raised less than $80,000 for his campaign. Baird carried the district with 65 percent of the vote last November.

Baird reported $579,000 on hand as of March 31.

The state of Washington has trended Democratic in recent years but Castillo believes the 3rd remains swing territory.

"The district is certainly not as Democratic as some folks would like us to believe," Castillo said.

He said statewide Republicans, such as Attorney General Rob McKenna, have carried the 3rd. Castillo said McKenna has already endorsed his campaign.

Though the district's major cities of Olympia and Vancouver lean Democratic, they are offset by Republican voters outside of the cities.

Bush carried the 3rd District in 2004 with 50 percent of the vote. In 2008, Barack Obama outran John McCain there by just 8 percentage points, according to a CQ Politics analysis, despite outrunning McCain statewide by 17 percentage points.