Tuesday, March 24, 2009

GOP to nominate candidate for vacant 124th state House seat

The Pennsylvania Republican Party is holding a nomination session Thursday at 6 p.m. in Schuylkill County to find a candidate to represent the party for the special election to fill the vacated 124th House District seat in the state Legislature.

The special election will be held on Tuesday, May 19, in conjunction with the regular primary election in Pennsylvania.

The 124th House seat is open after Rep. David Argall won a special election to fill the 29th state Senate District seat.

Argall has held the 124th House seat for the past 24 years and the seat should stay in Republican hands.

"Dave Argall's big victory earlier this month gives our party a tremendous amount of confidence heading into this election," Pennsylvania GOP Executive Director Luke Bernstein said. "Like the nomination process we conducted in the 29th State Senatorial District late last year, we will again run an open and transparent conferee process. Good candidates win these races and I am confident that the Republican Party will select the best candidate to represent this district."

The Pennsylvania Department of State has determined that candidates' paperwork must be filed no later than Monday, March 30, to run for the 124th House seat.

Here's some more details about Thursday's event from the PA GOP:
Because the 124th House District is made up of more than one county, both Berks and Schuylkill counties, PA GOP Bylaws dictate that the state Party preside over the conferee meeting.

Conferees must be registered Republican electors that reside in the 124th House District.

County Party bylaws dictate the counties' conferee selection processes. Conferees are allotted based on the electoral results of last year's presidential race and distributed proportionally to each county. We have informed each county that there will be ten Republican conferees from Schuylkill County and seven Republican conferees from Berks County. Once the Party receives the names and the conferees are verified, the party will release a complete list of all seventeen conferees.

During the conferee meeting, each candidate will have the opportunity to make a short presentation. After each candidate has an opportunity to be heard, the conferees will vote to nominate a candidate to fill our Party's position on the ballot. A nominated candidate must secure a majority plus one of the votes cast to earn the nomination. No proxies will be permitted at this meeting, and only conferees will be permitted to vote.

Any registered Republican, 21 years or older, who has resided in the 124th State House District for at least one year may seek the Party's nomination.

All candidates interested in seeking the Party's nomination must contact Republican Party of Pennsylvania Political Director Chad Weaver by calling 717-234-4901, ext 118or by emailing cweaver@pagop.org so that we can ensure that every interested candidate receives all the details of the process.
Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS