Rick Bart has filed as a Republican for the District 2 U.S. House of Representatives seat, according to Island County elections officials.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, a Democrat who was first elected to the District 2 seat in 2000, kicked off his campaign last week and is expected to also file as a candidate this week. Larsen will host a campaign kick-off event in Langley tonight at the Deer Lagoon Grange.

Bart is the former sheriff of Snohomish County. He left office after term limits prevented another run for the sheriff’s job, and then ran against Democrat Aaron Reardon for the job of Snohomish County executive in 2007 before dropping out of the race due to financial reasons.

“This campaign for Congress is going to be about trust; about getting things done and about leadership,” Bart said in a statement Monday.

“Right now, most people don’t trust Congress. Why? Because nothing is getting done and our problems are going unsolved. They are not only going unsolved, they are getting worse,” he added.

“Our country is a nation that consumes too much, saves too little and has to borrow huge amounts of money from abroad to finance our fiscal and trade deficits. Both political parties must begin to work together to solve this crisis now. The finger pointing and political posturing of the past several years has done nothing to resolve this very real threat,” Bart said.