Emporia ? A former Kansas legislator and an Emporia city commissioner will run for the state Senate seat of Republican Jim Barnett, who’s resigning Oct. 1.

The Emporia Gazette reports Democratic precinct committee members on Friday nominated former state Sen. Jerry Karr, of Emporia, to run in the special election Nov. 2.

Republican precinct committee members nominated Emporia City Commissioner Jeff Longbine during a Thursday evening meeting.

Barnett is a physician who’s joining a Topeka medical clinic. He had left his longtime practice in Emporia earlier this year to run unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in the 1st Congressional District.

The winner of the special election will serve the rest of Barnett’s term, which runs until January 2013.

Karr served in the Senate from 1981 to 1998.