They’ve been off the radar, but there will soon be two special House elections to replace deceased Republican members. In both cases, Republicans are expected to win easily — the question is who will get the nomination.
In Virginia, the official filing deadline for the race to replace Rep. JoAnn Davis is Nov. 13, but both parties will hold Nov. 10 nominating conventions. On the GOP side, there is a Nov. 7 deadline for candidates to file. Republicans expect 13 filers — one will be Davis’s widower, Chuck Davis. The special general election will be Dec. 11.
Next Tuesday in Ohio, Republican voters will go to the polls to replace Rep. Paul Gillmor (R). The Club for Growth-backed candidate, state Sen. Steve Buehrer (R), is now narrowly leading in a poll released by the Club. Take it with a grain of salt, but it is an improvement over his earlier polling against state Rep. Bob Latta (R). Both candidates have fairly conservative records, but Latta voted for Gov. Bob Taft’s (R) tax increase, and Buehrer voted against it, so it wasn’t hard for the Club to pick. A plurality of the voters are undecided in all of the available polls, so anything could happen.