MOUNTAIN HOME -- Republican leaders are banking on a Twin Falls consultant and former newspaper publisher to keep the House seat in District 23 in GOP hands.

The district's central committee picked Stephen Hartgen Tuesday to replace Rep. Bert Brackett on the November ballot.

Brackett, from Rogerson, has been elevated to the Senate to fill in for former Buhl Republican Tom Gannon, who died in June.

Hartgen will square off this fall against Democratic nominee Mike Ihler.

Hartgen is also one of three candidates the committee is forwarding to Gov. Butch Otter to temporarily fill Brackett's House seat. The other two include Gene Winchester, a

former state lawmaker, and Doran Parkins, a retired school administrator.

Hartgen is a former publisher of the Times-News in Twin Falls and a member of the Idaho State Capitol Commission.