It’s not official who, yet, but at least four people are interested in filling Darin LaHood’s state senate seat when he resigns to join Congress in the next week. Here are some of the next steps to fill the state position:
The 37th Senate District spans parts of ten counties in central and western Illinois. Once LaHood resigns, each of the ten county Republican Party chairs will gather to formally accept applications and review candidates. Peoria County Republican Party chairwoman Katherine Coyle says so far three people from Peoria and one from Knox County have expressed interested in filling the post:
“In this case we’ve had six months for a lot of people to jump out front and say I’m interested.”
Coyle says the party chairs will have one month to vote someone to LaHood’s senate seat after he resigns. She says the votes for each county are weighted based on Republican voter turnout in LaHood's 2012 primary election for state senate.