Although Kentucky’s Republicans have already voted during an earlier party caucus for their favorite candidates for that party’s nomination for president, there will still be a primary election in a couple of weeks that will see voters from both parties making selections in a handful of other races on the ballot.

Among those races is the one for the candidate that will be the Republican nominee for this fall’s race for the 1st District United States House of Representatives who will fill the seat that will be vacant due to the announced retirement of Ed Whitfield at the end of the current term. Whitfield, a Republican from Hopkinsville, has been in office since 1995.

One of the four candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the May 17 primary election has become a somewhat familiar face in Albany and Clinton County during the past few years, and was again here again on Monday, stumping for votes.

James Comer, who is a former Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture, worked his way around Albany Monday morning before heading out into the county to talk to voters about his campaign and during his stopover here, he made a visit to the office of the Clinton County News.

“A congressman should be accessible and a congressman should be active in the community and involved in the community and I will be,” Comer told the Clinton County News Monday morning. “I will work hard. Being a representative is about being in touch with the people you represent – your constituents.”

A native of nearby Monroe County, Comer said that he considers the counties of Monroe, Cumberland, Clinton and Russell to be his home area and he would hope that the voters in this area get out in good numbers to support him on May 17.

“I think it’s an opportunity to have someone in Washington from this area,” Comer said. “I’ll be here often just like I have been during the campaign.”

He acknowledged that the earlier caucus vote held by the Republican party will likely mean that voter turnout in the upcoming primary election will be considerably low.

“Knowing the turnout is going to be light, I’m really focused on calling on all of the voters I can to encourage them to get out and vote,” Comer said. “ Whoever gets the vote out is going to win.”

James Comer, left, a republican candidate for the upcoming primary race for U.S. House of Representatives, stopped to talk with Clinton County voter Rodney Cross Monday in the Clinton County Courthouse.