Luke Esser may be busy lining up support to take over the chairmanship of the Washington State GOP from Diane Tebelius, but Rodney Tom (the former Eastside GOP state representative who switched parties to run against Esser because he felt the GOP had been hijacked by Christian conservatives) is now getting ready to take over Esser’s senate seat in the 48th District (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish).

One of Tom’s first agenda items is to pass a bill the Democrats have been shopping for years: mandating that medically accurate sex education be taught in the public schools. With people like Esser in the senate, the Democrats have never been able to get it through. Tom, who actually cosponsored the bill in the house as a wayward Republican, recently told supporters he’s going to take the lead on it in the senate.

With federal dollars going to schools that teach Bush’s abstinence-only curriculum (which includes re-bop like: a 43-day-old fetus is a thinking being; condoms fail to prevent HIV; abortion leads to sterility; and you can contract HIV from sweat and tears), it’s excellent news that Tom is part of the new 32-17 majority in the state senate—where the bill has historically stalled.