Three nominated to fill Jorge Luis Garcia's seat in the AZ Senate

From an email from that Arizona Democratic Party -

3 nominees announced for consideration to fill seat of late Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia

TUCSON -- On Monday night, 39 precinct committeepersons of the Arizona Democratic Party convened for a Legislative District 27 meeting in Tucson for the purposes of nominating replacements to fill the seat left vacant by the untimely death of state Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia.


Three nominees were affirmed by acclimation (uncontested). They are as follows:

--Maria De La Luz Garcia (Sen. Garcia's wife) of Tucson

--Robert Gilby of Tucson

--Sami Hamed of Tucson

The names of these nominees were submitted today to the Pima County Board of Supervisors by Don Bivens, Arizona Democratic Party chair. The Board of Supervisors will choose the replacement from among the three names submitted. That appointee will be sworn into office and serve the remainder of the term until January.

As the press release notes, Maria De La Luz Garcia is Senator Garcia's wife. Both Bob Gilby and Sami Hamed are long-time Democratic activists in LD27 (and for the County and State parties).  In fact, both were House candidates this year.

Without personally knowing any of the principals involved (I've briefly met them all at one ADP function or another, but that isn't the same as "getting to know" them), I feel comfortable predicting that Maria De La Luz Garcia will receive the appointment of the Pima supes.

Traditionally, in such situations, where the appointment won't have much or any real world impact, it frequently goes to the late officeholder's spouse as both a way to honor and respect the family *and* to avoid the appearance of playing favorites close to an election (though both neither Hamed nor Gilby made it through the primary).

Given that the appointment will for approximately two months...