HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A three-term state lawmaker from northwestern Pennsylvania said Wednesday that he will seek the Republican nomination to run for state auditor general this year.
Cris Dush made the announcement less than a week before he can start circulating nomination petitions to get on the April 28 primary ballot. Feb. 18 is the deadline to submit nomination petitions to the state elections bureau.
The Jefferson County lawmaker had earlier announced that he will not run for another term in his legislative seat.
Another Republican, Lancaster County Commissioner Dennis Stuckey, also has said he will seek his party’s nomination. The last Republican to hold the office was Barbara Hafer, whose term ended in 1997.
On the Democratic side, five people have announced that they will run. They include seven-term Rep. Scott Conklin of Centre County, Pittsburgh’s third-term city controller Michael Lamb, Christina Hartman, a former congressional candidate from Lancaster County, Nina Ahmad, a former Philadelphia deputy mayor who lost a 2018 primary bid for lieutenant governor, and Tracie Fountain, a three-decade veteran employee of the auditor general’s office.
Pennsylvania’s current auditor general, Democrat Eugene DePasquale, is completing a second four-year term and is constitutionally barred from seeking another.