Monday morning’s snowstorm prompted Lancaster County Republican Party officials to postpone two straw polls designed to gauge interest in the four candidates seeking the nomination in the 36th Senatorial District special election.
Elected committee members from the Hempfield and Manheim Township GOP committees will instead meet Wednesday night at the Barn at Stoner Commons to weigh in on the candidates: Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons, state Rep. Brett Miller, J.P. McCaskey High School teacher Steven Heffner and retired truck driver Brad Witmer.
Committee members from the Columbia, Donegal, Elizabethtown, Manheim Central and Warwick area committees are scheduled to meet for their straw polls on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Manheim Farm Show complex.
The formal selection of a candidate by all committee members from the 36th District will be held on Jan. 25. Of the GOP committee members who have spoken to LNP | LancasterOnline, Parsons and Miller remain the heavy favorites for the nomination.
County Democrats have not yet announced their timeline for nominating a candidate, but last week former Donegal School District librarian Matthew Good, who resigned in 2022 rather than enforce a policy restricting students’ access to books, announced his candidacy.
Lt. Gov. Austin Davus must announce the date of the special election by the end of this week.
The 36th District seat is vacant following the Dec. 31 resignation of Ryan Aument. First elected to the seat in 2014, Aument stepped down to become state office director for Pennsylvania’s new U.S. senator, Dave McCormick.
