By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – A McLean County Board member is revealing a couple of the leading candidates being considered to replace State’s Attorney Jason Chambers, who’s leaving his job in August to become a circuit judge.

Board member Erik Rankin, also the county’s Democratic party chairman, said two of the front runners are Assistant County Administrator Don Knapp and Jessica Woods, who’s head of the civil division in the state’s attorney’s office.

“We are getting endorsements of every person you could possibly think of,” Rankin told Sam Wood Friday on WJBC’s Afternoon Report.

“We’ve been lobbied by some people internally as to who’s really interested in the position,” Rankin said.

County Board Chairman John McIntyre will announce his choice, which has to be approved by the full county board.

“Really at the end of the day, the chairman has the lion’s share of the power here, and so trading off my other hat, it doesn’t really matter who it is that the Republicans pick. I respect both of the them (Knapp and Woods). My job is to find a Democrat to beat one of the two of them,” Rankin also said.

The board has to choose a Republican to fill the remainder of Chambers’ term, which runs until the 2020 election.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]