State Rep. Jene Vickrey has quietly resigned his House seat, opening the door for Republican leaders to pick a replacement just before the GOP primary next month.
Vickrey resigned his set on June 30, officially bringing his 28-year tenure in the House to an end.
Republican leaders have 21 days to hold a convention to pick a replacement for the House District 6 seat, which represents Miami County.
The timing would put the convention just a couple weeks before the Aug. 4 primary.
The two candidates running for the seat – Samantha Poetter and Clifford Blackmore – are expected to run in the precinct election to fill out Vickrey’s term.
“I like both candidates, but I’ve endorsed Samantha,” Vickrey said. “They’re both conservatives. However, it works out will be OK.”
Vickrey said he hoped the new House member from the district would get seniority over other incoming lawmakers next session. No Democrat has filed for the seat.
The precinct convention would pose a potential conflict for Blackmore and Poetter since they are both running for office and are in a position to select the replacement as a precinct committeeman and committeewoman.
Poetter said she thinks Blackmore should recuse himself from organizing the convention and leave it to the vice chair.
However, that would leave it up to Lynn Mowrey, who is a scheduler for Kris Kobach’s U.S. Senate campaign. Poetter also has worked for Kobach in the past.
Poetter said she would recuse herself from voting in the precinct convention so long as Blackmore did as well
Blackmore could not be reached for comment for this story.
She acknowledged that Blackmore has named about a third of the precinct committee members, but she predicted a close race.
Poetter already has the backing of Vickrey and Republican state Sen. Molly Baumgardner in the House race.
“Its going to be tight, but I don’t think either of us can go into it assuming we’re winning it,” Poetter said.
