Former Salt Lake County Commissioner Brent Overson is looking for a political comeback.

Overson, a Republican who served in the old form of county government from 1993 to 2001 and at one time was a leader in state GOP politics, is running for the soon-to-be-open Utah House seat of Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville.

Overson and four other Republicans who live in Holdaway's District 34 have put their names forward, said Salt Lake County GOP Chairman Thomas Wright.

More can enter the race before the Nov. 5 mini-convention, when the 39 county delegates in the district meet to vote on Holdaway's replacement. Holdaway is resigning his seat to become political director/government affairs boss for the Utah Education Association, the state's largest public school teachers union.

"I believe I can be effective from day one," said Overson, 59. "I know everyone and know the issues."

Overson started his political career when he won a state Senate seat in 1982. At the time, the 32-year-old was one of the youngest senators in the 29-member body.

He served until 1987 when he resigned to become Salt Lake County deputy assessor, a post he held until he won a commission seat in 1992.

He stayed active in local GOP politics after he left the commission and was among a group of county party grass-roots officers criticized in 2002 when they signed a newspaper advertisement endorsing Democrat Randy Horiuchi for the new Salt Lake County Council.

Salt Lake County GOP leaders tried to take away the party offices (Overson was a county delegate) of the Horiuchi endorsers. But the county party's central committee voted down that attempt.

Overson was defeated in an attempted 2004 Salt Lake County government comeback when he lost in the county GOP convention for a council seat.

"There are a number of vital issues" that will be before the 2010 Legislature, including health-care reform and huge state budget shortfalls, Overson said.

Holdaway, a special education teacher in the Granite School District, was considered a moderate Republican. Overson described himself as "a right-leaning moderate" who knows how to get things done.

Wright said also signing up for Holdaway's seat so far are Johnny Anderson, Todd Carter, Shirene Saddler and Milton Witt, who challenged Holdaway in 2006 but was defeated in the convention.

Others may join the group, as county party rules allow any registered Republican living in the district to announce right up to the delegate meeting that he or she is a candidate. In rounds of voting, whoever gets more than 50 percent of the vote will have his or her name sent to Gov. Gary Herbert for appointment to Holdaway's seat. That person will serve through December 2010, facing election for a two-year term next year.

e-mail: bbjr@desnews.com