Photo by Eric Gilliland.

Kwame Brown officially claimed the title of D.C. Council Chairman-elect last week, which means he has to give up his At-Large Councilmember position come January. So who will replace him? A special election for a permanent replacement, expected to be an hotly-contested affair with no fewer than fourteen legitimate candidates having their names dropped for the job, will be held sometime in the spring. For precedent: the last time such special elections for Council seats were held was in May 2007, when seats in Ward 4 and Ward 7 — Mayor Adrian Fenty and Chair/Mayor-elect Vince Gray’s former seats, respectively — were up for grabs.

So what about those four months or so between Brown’s swearing-in on January 2 and whenever that special election happens? It’s the job of the District of Columbia’s Democratic State Committee to appoint someone to fill the position on a temporary basis. Today, the organization released instructions for those who are interested in being on the Council for a few months.