1 of these 3 Valley Democrats will fill a vacant Arizona House seat

Democrats in Legislative District 4 nominated three people to fill a legislative vacancy, including both candidates on the November ballot.

The elected precinct committee members in the northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale district recommended Kelli Butler, Karen Gresham and Eric Meyer to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which will select one. Both Butler and Gresham are running as a team in the Nov. 5 election to fill the district's two House seats.

One of them will fill the vacancy created last month when Rep. Laura Terech, D-Phoenix, resigned her seat. She took a post with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, working on special projects. There are six months left in Terech's term, which ends in January.

Meyer, a four-term lawmaker and former minority leader, accepted his nomination, but said he hopes he doesn't get selected to fill the vacancy. He deferred to his preference for the two women running for full two-year terms.

All three were selected in the first round of voting, making this the shortest replacement vote this year amid a spate of legislative departures. The meeting lasted less than an hour.

The supervisors have 21 days after being formally notified of the three names to appoint one to finish out Terech's term.

Ten of the 90 sitting lawmakers have been appointed by county officials during the Legislature's current two-year term. Most of the resignations were from Democrats, who left for reasons ranging from seeking another office, to pursuing new opportunities to the low legislative salary of $24,000 a year.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 3 Valley Democrats nominated to fill vacant District 4 House seat