diff --git a/src/components/root/Root.js b/src/components/root/Root.js
index e9e2637f..559a0b32 100644
--- a/src/components/root/Root.js
+++ b/src/components/root/Root.js
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ const RootComponent = Component({
   'render': (args, selection, data) => {
     const body = selection.select('body')
     body.selectAll('*').remove()
+    // "unsubscribe" the elements we've just removed
+    if (args.state_handler) args.state_handler.reset()
     if (data instanceof Array) data.map((definition) => {
       const updated_definition = Object.assign({'args': {}}, definition)
       updated_definition.args.state_handler = args.state_handler
diff --git a/src/components/root/Root.test.js b/src/components/root/Root.test.js
index b0bc4f4f..bd394733 100644
--- a/src/components/root/Root.test.js
+++ b/src/components/root/Root.test.js
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ describe('Root component', function() {
   })
 
   it('variables are initialized in state', function() {
-    const state_handler = {'init_variable': sinon.spy()}
+    const state_handler = {'init_variable': sinon.spy(), 'reset': sinon.spy()}
     const my_default = sinon.spy()
     call_render_with({
       'parser': (component) => () => component.args.state_handler.init_variable(
@@ -131,8 +131,24 @@ describe('Root component', function() {
     state_handler.init_variable.should.be.calledWith('foo', my_default)
   })
 
+  it('calls state_handler\'s reset', function() {
+    const state_handler = {'reset': sinon.spy()}
+    const my_default = sinon.spy()
+    call_render_with({
+      'parser': (component) => () => component.args.state_handler.init_variable(
+        component.args.variable, component.args.default),
+      'component_args': {'title': 'x', 'state_handler': state_handler},
+      'render_args': [
+        { 'component': 'dropdown', 'args': {
+          'default': my_default, 'variable': 'foo',
+        }, 'data': [] }
+      ]
+    })
+    state_handler.reset.should.be.called()
+  })
+
   it('variables are updated in state', function() {
-    const state_handler = {'set_variable': sinon.spy()}
+    const state_handler = {'set_variable': sinon.spy(), 'reset': sinon.spy()}
     const my_default = sinon.spy()
     call_render_with({
       'parser': (component) => () => component.args.state_handler.set_variable(
diff --git a/src/manual_test.js b/src/manual_test.js
index db610468..fc5dd805 100644
--- a/src/manual_test.js
+++ b/src/manual_test.js
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ dashboard "Cereals":
   - dropdown my_var=foo:
     - {"value": "foo", "text": "Foo"}
     - {"value": "bar", "text": "Bar"}
+  - 2 columns:
+    - p text: "foo \${my_var} bar"
+    - p text: "foo \${my_var} bar"
   - bar chart:
     - attr:query: '{"columns": [(sort_by(-(.calories | tonumber)) | .[] | [.name, .calories])]}'
     - data: https://gist.githubusercontent.com/ZeningQu/6184eaf8faa533e320abc938c4738c3e/raw/40f237de825061faa8721c2293b79c46979780b4/cereals.csv
diff --git a/src/state_handler.js b/src/state_handler.js
index 6784394a..7b347073 100644
--- a/src/state_handler.js
+++ b/src/state_handler.js
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ const create_state_handler = () => {
 
   const state_handler = {
     'get_state': () => state,
+    'reset': () => {
+      subscriptions = []
+    },
     'init_variable': (variable, value) => {
       if (state[variable] === undefined) {
         handle_change(variable, value)
diff --git a/src/state_handler.test.js b/src/state_handler.test.js
index ada1ba71..27460a55 100644
--- a/src/state_handler.test.js
+++ b/src/state_handler.test.js
@@ -70,6 +70,20 @@ describe('state handler', () => {
     create_state_handler().subscribe.should.be.a.Function()
   })
 
+  it('has a reset method', () => {
+    create_state_handler().reset.should.be.a.Function()
+  })
+
+  it('reset() undoes subscriptions', () => {
+    const my_callback = sinon.spy()
+    const state_handler = create_state_handler()
+    state_handler.subscribe(my_callback)
+    state_handler.reset()
+    state_handler.set_variable('foo', 42)
+    my_callback.should.not.be.called()
+  })
+
+
   const methods_that_update_state = ['init_variable', 'set_variable']
 
   methods_that_update_state.forEach(method => {