Del. Steve Landes, R-Weyers Cave, announced today that he will run for the open position of Clerk of Circuit Court for Augusta County.
Landes, who is serving his 12th term representing the 25th House District, will not seek re-election to the House of Delegates in the November general election.
“Today I am announcing that I will be a candidate for the Clerk of Circuit Court for Augusta County and that I will not be seeking re-election to the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 25th District,” said Landes. “It has been a high honor to serve in the House of Delegates and to be the Delegate from Augusta County for over 20 years. I know the time is right for me to use my experience in the General Assembly and put that experience to work for all the citizens of Augusta County as their Clerk of Circuit Court.
“The people have trusted me to be their representative for over 20 years. I am asking them to trust me once again to serve as their Augusta County Clerk of Circuit Court. I pledge to earn that trust over the course of this campaign,” said Landes, who was first elected to the 25th House District seat in 1995.
A Rockingham County Republican leader, Chris Runion, is set to announce his candidacy for the GOP nomination in the 25th Wednesday at noon at an event at Bridgewater Town Hall.
The deadline to file for the party nomination in the 25th District is 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The party nomination will be decided at an April 27 party canvass.
Two Democrats have declared their intentions to run in the 25th District – Lauren Thompson and Jennifer Kitchen.
Landes is the second candidate to emerge for the open Augusta County circuit court clerk seat.
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.
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 salary for members of the House of Delegates, for what is formally a part-time position, is $17,640 a year.
Story by Chris Graham
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