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And that's precisely what they did.
Members of the Lancaster County GOP took less than half an hour and just two ballots Tuesday night to back a successor to retiring state Rep. Katie True: 32-year-old Ryan Aument of Landisville.
"I am humbled by your support. I thank you for your endorsement to be our next state representative," Aument said to applause from committee people meeting at the Farm and Home Center.
Aument, the county's clerk of courts, topped Warwick guidance counselor and East Hempfield Township Supervisor Brett Miller among the five dozen Republican committee people in the 41st Legislative District.
Aument won the necessary two-thirds supermajority for party endorsement on the second ballot, getting support from 42 of the 61 voting committee people present. Miller got 19 of the votes and dropped out of the primary following Aument's endorsement.
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed to some degree," Miller, 48, said. "However, the process has been invigorating, and I am grateful to those who were supportive of me. I wish Ryan all the best in the coming primary and, ultimately, the election."
In the first round of balloting, Aument led, but Miller had enough votes to theoretically block an endorsement. Miller said that had the second round gone the same way, he would have backed out and allowed the GOP to endorse.
"A number of committee members definitely were not interested in an open primary," Miller said. "I think that helped various people to switch votes in the second round. But had it come out the same in the second round, my wife and I had decided that I would step aside. We're not interested in an open primary."
Miller didn't need to take that step.
"We were all committed to getting an endorsement," said Bonnie L. Bowman, a Lancaster Township committee woman and the county's recorder of deeds. "That's our job. That's what we were here to do. And we did it."
Scott Wiglesworth, chairman of the Hempfield area GOP, said both candidates are well-liked by the committee people of the 41st.
"We always try to endorse. We had two good candidates, and I felt we were going to get one," he said. "This wasn't a race where people take sides and they draw a line in the sand. I heard positive comments for both candidates."
Winning endorsement is the key to accessing party workers and campaign funds.
With Miller's withdrawal, Aument is unchallenged in the May 18 Republican primary, though the deadline to enter the race is March 9. No Democrat has yet announced a campaign for the seat, but county Democratic committee Chairman Bruce Beardsley has said the party will put forth a candidate.
True, 68, announced in November that she would retire at the end of her fourth term in the 41st District, saying she has achieved most of her legislative goals in recent years and now wants to focus on personal ones.
Previously, she had served four terms in the 37th District.
Aument, of Farmington Place, Landisville, is in his first term as county clerk of courts, the office that manages criminal records. He is a 1995 Solanco High School graduate and 1999 Citadel graduate with a bachelor's degree in education.
A former Army captain and veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he previously served as chief of staff for state Rep. Bryan Cutler, a Republican from Peach Bottom.
"This district has been honorably served by Katie True," Aument said. "We owe her a great debt of gratitude. I can't be Katie True. I can be myself. Hers is certainly an example I will work very hard to emulate."
The 41st district spans a broad swath of western Lancaster County, including East Petersburg and Mountville boroughs, East and West Hempfield townships, the western portion of Lancaster Township and part of Manor Township.
The committee also endorsed U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts of Chester County for an eighth two-year term in the 16th Congressional District, as well as all of the county's Republican state lawmakers who are seeking re-election this year. All are unopposed in the party primary.
In the 96th district, the GOP gave its blessing to political newcomer Thomas L. Garman Jr., a 32-year-old Lancaster resident who's running against state Rep. Mike Sturla, the only Democrat in the county's delegation.
Garman told the GOP the timing is right this year to send an all-Republican delegation to Harrisburg, a remark that drew much applause.
