The race to become the next elected Lincoln County District Attorney is getting more interesting.
A second deputy district attorney in the office has filed for the May primary election to challenge newly appointed district attorney Jonathan Cable.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown appointed Cable, a Newport attorney in private practice, to the position on Jan. 17. Cable succeeded Michelle Branam, who resigned last fall to go to work for the Oregon Department of Human Resources in Newport.
Lanee M. Danforth, a deputy district attorney, filed Jan. 25 for the position. The other deputy DA who has filed for the position is Kenneth “Rusty” Park, one of four attorneys who originally applied to replace Branam.
Cable was a deputy district attorney from 2006 to 2015 before going into private practice. He filed for election on Tuesday.
To win the office outright in May, the top vote getter has to receive more than 50 percent of the vote. If no one reaches that threshold, the top two run off in November.
In selecting Cable, the governor passed over three current or former deputy district attorneys who applied for the opening last fall — Park, R. Lynn Howard and Christine Herrman. Herrman has since left the office.
The Lincoln County district attorney has a yearly budget of nearly $3 million and supervises a staff of 33 including eight to 10 other attorneys.