Del. Steve Landes has scheduled a press conference for Tuesday to announce his intentions regarding the 2019 elections – as a conservative radio host is reporting that Landes is considering throwing his hat into the ring for the open Augusta County Circuit Court Clerk post.
The report, from “Schilling Show” host Rob Schilling, also has Augusta County Board of Supervisors member Marshall Pattie in the mix to run for the Republican Party nomination in the 25th House District.
The Schilling report suggests that the timing of the Landes announcement is to effectively throw the GOP nomination to Pattie, citing a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline for candidates to file for the party nomination.
Pattie was first elected to the Board of Supervisors, representing the North River District, in 2011, and he was re-elected in 2015.
He ran his first campaign as an independent, before formally joining the Republican Party to run for the GOP nomination in the 24th Senate District, challenging long-time incumbent Emmett Hanger, who won the nomination in a June 2015 primary.
Before that, Pattie had served as chair of the Augusta County Democratic Committee.
Landes has represented the 25th House District in the General Assembly since 1996.
The salary for members of the House of Delegates, for what is formally a part-time position, is $17,640 a year.
The circuit-court clerk post, which is an elected constitutional office, has a salary prescribed by the Commonwealth of Virginia Compensation Board at $121,348.
The current elected clerk, Carolyn Brydge, announced last week that she will step down effective April 1. The same day that Brydge announced her retirement plans, Carolyn Bragg, a member of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, announced her intention to run for the clerk post.
A special election will have to be called to fill out the unexpired term of Brydge, who was elected to an eight-year term in the seat back in 2015.
Story by Chris Graham
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