HELENA — Lewis and Clark County commissioners on Thursday appointed Galen Hollenbaugh, deputy chief of staff for Attorney General Mike McGrath, to a vacant seat in the state House.

Hollenbaugh will replace Christine Kaufmann in House District 81. Commissioners chose Kaufmann earlier this week to replace Ken Toole in the state Senate. Toole gave up his Senate post after being elected to the state Public Service Commission last month.

Hollenbaugh, chosen by a 2-1 vote of the commission, has been at the state Department of Justice for more than a decade, and has served in the past as a campaign manager for McGrath and on the campaign staffs of former Attorney General Joe Mazurek, former Rep. Pat Williams and U.S. Sen. Max Baucus.