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Potential candidates are stepping forward for a special election to fill the 15th House District seat left vacant by the recent death of Faith McMahon.

McMahon, a Democrat who had just begun her fourth term in office, died Jan. 27 of cancer.

The district, dominated by Democrats, encompasses portions of Bloomfield and Windsor. The special election is scheduled for March 24. Any registered voter who lives in the 15th District is eligible to vote.

Before the election, both towns' Democratic and Republican committees are required to meet to nominate candidates for the vacant seat.

Then delegates who represented the district in the last election will convene to choose a candidate to represent their parties. Bloomfield holds 10 Democratic and four Republican delegates, compared with seven Democratic and two Republican delegates in Windsor.

Last week the Windsor Democratic Town Committee nominated its chairman, Leo Canty, to represent Windsor at the yet-to-be scheduled convention.

Wednesday, Bloomfield's Democratic town committee nominated its chairman, David Baram, to represent that town.

Baram, Bloomfield's mayor from 1983 to 1989, said his experience there taught him about the inner workings of towns and helped him develop relationships at the state legislature. Baram was also chairman of the Capitol Region Council of Governments for two years.

"My legacy as mayor and as [CRCOG] chairman was that I was a strong advocate for regionalism," said Baram, a lawyer.

Canty, union secretary and vice president for the American Federation of Teachers Connecticut, said he has spent the past three years working with legislators on universal health care, smart growth and tax restructuring.

Canty said it is important for Windsor residents to be directly represented at the legislature. Canty said he realizes that he faces an uphill battle at the convention because of the three-delegate difference, but added that Windsor will be back with a candidate for a primary for the 2010 race.

"If David [Baram] is nominated, we consider him to be a temporary legislator and not an incumbent," said Canty.

Devaughn Ward, a 23-year-old Bloomfield resident and student at the University of Connecticut Law School, has mounted a petition drive to be on the ballot. Ward, who interviewed for the Democratic nomination, said it's time for the old guard to step aside and let a new generation advocate for the district's residents.

"I don't believe the constituents of Bloomfield and Windsor have been served over the last three terms," said Ward, who must collect 126 signatures to be placed on the ballot.

Bloomfield Republican Town Chairman Joseph Wactowski said he and Windsor Town Chairman David Raney were planning to have a convention to nominate a candidate from their party.

Bloomfield Town Councilman Joseph Merritt is a possible candidate, Wactowski said.