With a March 5 special election coming up, candidates from both the Republican and Democratic sides of the political table now have less than one month left to campaign for the vacant Johnson County Board of Supervisors seat.

After a Jan. 31 Democratic nomination was awarded to current Johnson County Democrats head Terry Dahms, a Wednesday evening GOP convention held at the Coralville Public Library gave Kalona resident John Etheredge the nomination.

Etheredge ran unsuccessfully for the board during the general election in November against current Supervisor Terrence Neuzil. With 10,857 votes, he took 14 percent of the votes, compared with Neuzil’s 44,725.

“He’s a great individual. He’s really in touch with trying to bring some liberty and ground back for individuals,” Deb Derksen, an advocate for Etheredge said. “He’s very interested in personal property rights. He represents the rural Johnson County because right now we have the Iowa City town supervisors, not the Johnson County Board of Supervisors because almost all, with the exception of one, live in Iowa City.”

Etheredge is campaigning on a number of local issues that he plans on addressing if selected as a board member. Among them include current county debt, making Johnson County more attractive and business-friendly to small businesses, promoting countywide safety, and property-tax hikes.