Updated Dec. 12 | As of Friday afternoon, President-elect Donald Trump had not officially announced Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers as his pick for secretary of the Interior.

But that didn’t stop Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart, a Democrat, from congratulating McMorris Rodgers “on her appointment” and announcing his bid for a special election to replace the six-term congresswoman in Washington’s 5th District.

“It’s always best to be the first person to the party,” he said in an interview Friday.

McMorris Rodgers, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, is reported to be Trump’s pick, but the president-elect’s transition team has not confirmed her selection. She’s currently the highest-ranking woman in Republican House leadership, and her departure could exacerbate the GOP’s gender gap in the House.

Stuckart has been president of the city council since 2012. He founded Communities in Schools of Spokane County, a dropout prevention organization. He had been considering a run for mayor in 2019 but he said Friday that is now “off the table.”