HARRISBURG – The Republican Party of Pennsylvania (PA GOP) announced that a conferee meeting will be held on Thursday, March 11^th, 2010 at 7:00 pm at the Fred M. Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College to nominate a candidate to fill the Republican Party’s position on the ballot for the upcoming May 18^th, 2010 special election to fill the vacant seat in the 12^th Congressional District.

Last week, Governor Ed Rendell officially declared a vacancy in the 12^th Congressional District and announced that a special election will occur on May 18^th, 2010.

Due to the fact that this Congressional District is made up of more than one county, PA GOP Bylaws dictate that the State Party preside over the conferee meeting.  Each of the counties that comprise the 12^th Congressional District, which includes all of Greene County and parts of Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties, will be represented by their respective number of allotted conferees based on the electoral results of the 2008 presidential election.  Conferees must be registered Republican electors that reside in the 12^th Congressional District.   County Party Bylaws dictates the counties’ conferee selection processes.  We will be publicly releasing the names of the conferees prior to the meeting.

During the conferee meeting, each candidate will have the opportunity to make a short presentation and take questions from conferees.  After each candidate has an opportunity to address the conferees, the conferees will vote to nominate a candidate to fill our Party’s position on the ballot. A nominated candidate must secure a majority plus one of the votes cast to earn the nomination. No proxies will be permitted at this meeting, and only conferees will be permitted to vote.

Any registered Republican, 25 years or older, who is an inhabitant of Pennsylvania and has been a U.S. citizen for at least 7 years may seek the Party’s nomination.  We would ask that all candidates interested in seeking the Party’s nomination contact Republican Party of Pennsylvania Political Outreach Director Mike Downing by calling 717-234-4901, ext 111 or by emailingmdowning@pagop.org so that we can ensure that every interested candidate is included in the process.

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