Republican Lars Lone of Cheyenne has been sworn into the Wyoming Legislature as a Representative of House District 12.

Lone replaces Harlan Edmonds, who moved outside of the district and resigned his seat on Aug. 15. The Laramie County Commission picked Lone on Monday to serve out the remainder of Edmonds term, which runs through the rest of the year.

Lone will also take Edmonds place on the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee as well as the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee.

Because Lone is running as the Republican nominee for the seat in November some Democrats have been critical of appointing him to the seat now and essentially allowing him to run as an incumbent against Democratic nominee Lee Filer.

Ron Kailey, the only Democrat on the commission, was also the only vote against appointing Lone to the seat on Monday. Filer has also said he thinks Edmonds timed his resignation to allow Lone to run as an incumbent.

Filer held the seat for one term before losing to Edmonds in 2014.

Lone was sworn in on Tuesday afternoon by Wyoming Supreme Court Justice James E. Burke.

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