State Rep. Victoria Steele (D-Tucson) from Legislative District 9 resigned her seat in the House on Monday to run full-time for Congress in Congressional District 2. Steele resigns legislative seat to run for Congress.
This sets in motion A.R.S. § 41-1202 – Vacancy in legislature; precinct committeemen; appointment; definition. Since the legislature is in session, the elected Democratic precinct committeemen of LD 9 shall nominate, within 5 (five) days after the Arizona Democratic Party receives notice of the vacancy from the Secretary of State, “by a majority vote, three qualified electors to fill the vacancy who meet the requirements for service in the legislature and who belong to the same political party and reside at the time of nomination in the same district and county as the person elected to or appointed to the office immediately before the vacancy.” A.R.S. § 41-1202(A)(2).
The Chair of LD 9, Brian Clymer, advises me that the special election will be held this Friday, January15 at 6:00 p.m. at the Pima County Democratic Party HQ, 4639 E 1st Street, Tucson, AZ. Remember, only Precinct Committee Persons who are elected in their current precinct can vote.
The only filed candidate currently running for the LD 9 House seat is Pamela Powers-Hannley, one of our bloggers here at Blog for Arizona.
Other persons who have expressed an interest in running for the House should Victoria Steele decide that she was definitely not going to change her mind about running for Congress and return to the legislature are Matt Kopec, a City of Tucson council aide who has run Democratic campaigns in Tucson, and is the treasurer of the Pima County Democratic Party; Aaron Rottenstein, a financial advisor who has worked on congressional campaigns and as a staffer in the U.S. House; and Ted Prezelski, also a City of Tucson council aide, long-time political activist and district officer, and former blogger at the Rum, Romanism and Rebellion blog. Former legislative candidate and former Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party Don Jorgensen has been mentioned, but he may not be running.
The names of the three individuals selected by LD 9 Democrats will be forwarded to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, who will appoint one of them to fill the vacancy in the House at their next regular meeting on Tuesday, January 19.
Don Jorgensen was considering putting his hat in the ring for this appointment but has decided against it.
Good