KENNEWICK, Wash. - Jerome Delvin stepped down from his Senate seat to take over as a Benton County Commissioner. Now, a new senator must be chosen.
It's not the most common issue to arise in politics, but this sort of thing has happened about four times in the last decade in Benton County.
One of the primary functions of the Benton County Republican party is to fill vacancies for partisan offices.
So, here's what happens now: Senate hopefuls have to submit a letter of interest to the Republican party's nomination committee by January 3rd. Then the committee puts together questions and the hopeful have to submit a written response by the 13th.
Then on the 17th of January, district precinct officers meet to vote on the top three candidates. Those three people will then be presented to Benton County Commissioners who will make the final selection.
"Then there's a good possibility that the county commissioners will select a sitting member of the state house of representatives to fill the senate seat. So then the party will also make a selection to fill the house vacancy to be efficient," said precinct officer Patrick McBurney.
McBurney said that's very likely in this case because it's already known Representative Larry Haler is a senate hopeful
When Jerome Delvin first took the 8th District Senate Seat it was a situation much like this. Senator Pat Hale had left her position and the Benton County Commissioners chose him Delvin as their top choice.
