MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Republican Central Committee met at The Alcove on Tuesday evening for the purpose of endorsing candidates for the May 4 primary election.

There were 36 members present, representing voting precincts in Knox County. It is necessary for a candidate to receive a two-thirds majority vote of those present to be endorsed for the May primary election.

Thom Collier won approval of the committee on the first ballot, with 75 percent of the votes in the race for Ohio State Senator of the 19th Ohio Senate District. The office is now held by Ashland County resident Bill Harris, who is term limited and will not be on the ballot. The other two candidates were Knox County Republican Chairman Lou Petros and Ohio State Rep. Kris Jordan of Delaware.

In the Knox County Commissioners race, Roger Reed of Fredericktown won the endorsement over Tim Smith and current Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise.

Jon Husted was endorsed for Ohio Secretary of State over Sandy O’Brien.

In the race for Ohio State Auditor, the two Republican candidates are Seth Morgan and Dave Yost. Since neither candidate won the two-thirds majority necessary, there was no endorsement by the committee.

Each candidate was given an opportunity to speak before the committee, after which questions were entertained by those on the committee. The vote was taken by secret ballot. Two nonmembers of the committee, Bill Moody and Brenda Lanning, served as tellers for each of the votes.