A special election will be held Aug. 18 to replace former state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, R-12th, following her resignation.

House Speaker Joanna McClinton signed a writ of election on Wednesday, April 8, to fill the vacancy, which was officially vacated March 31.

According to McClinton’s office, House rules state the speaker must issue a writ of election within 10 days following a vacancy. She had until April 10 to make a decision. The writ was issued to the Secretary of the Commonwealth and Butler County’s commissioners.

Scialabba announced her resignation weeks before her last day in the House, after previously announcing she would not seek reelection. She had held the seat since January 2023, and said her resignation was to focus on taking care of her son.

Her term was set to expire at the end of 2026. Republican and Democratic candidates already have declared their intentions to run for the 12th District seat in the regularly scheduled May primary election: Republicans Ethan Nicholas and Scott Timko, and Democrat Brandon Dukes.

Stacey Palmer, who became chairwoman of the Butler County Republican Committee of Pennsylvania earlier this year, says she was not totally surprised to find out about the calling of a special election.

“I’ve read over the law regarding special elections, and I believe a special election was required by the law,” Palmer said. “I believe the chair did what was required by law.”

When asked what candidate the Republicans planned on putting forward for the special election, Palmer only said, “The BCRC bylaws have a process for selecting a candidate. We will follow that process.”

Catherine Lalonde, of the Butler County Democratic Committee, said the most likely Democratic candidate for the special election — and the only one so far — is Dukes, who is already on the Democratic ballot in the May 19 primary.

“So far, we have one candidate for that seat. If any others want to run for that seat, we would have to have a meeting of the committee members to vote for whoever they want to put forward,” Lalonde said.

The 12th District encompasses Adams, Cranberry and Jackson townships; and Callery, Evans City, Harmony, Mars, Seven Fields, Valencia and Zelienople boroughs.