Two Republicans plan to announce this week campaigns for the Senate seat last held by Anne Gobi, who left the Legislature this month to serve in the Healey administration, teeing up a special election sometime this year.

State Rep. Peter Durant, a Spencer Republican, made his run official Monday in updated filings with the state’s campaign finance office after the Herald reported his intentions last week. Durant plans to formally announce his campaign Wednesday at 11 a.m. on the Holden Common.

Rebekah Etique, the 24-year-old former campaign manager of the last Republican to challenge Gobi and lose, said she will also seek her party’s nomination.

“This is something I’ve been strategically thinking on for a while, so it’s time and I’m announcing it this week,” she told the Herald during a telephone interview on Monday. “I think it’s a really great time.”

Etique, a paralegal, ran the campaign of James Amorello in 2022, when he managed to grab 46% of the general election vote despite running as a Republican in deeply blue Massachusetts. According to Etique, the blue-collar district she hopes to represent is particularly receptive to conservative ideals.

“It’s probably the most conservative district in the state. The district votes very Republican,” she said

The winner of a potential Republican primary could end up facing Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat who has served in the Legislature for five terms. He announced his bid for the seat last month.

Zlotnik did not respond to a request for comment, but said in his campaign announcement that he has a “proven bipartisan track-record of problem solving and consensus building.”

The MassGOP is throwing their support behind Durant, state party Chair Amy Carnevale said. Durant was invited to speak at a MassGOP meeting on Thursday night in Westborough, Carnevale said.

“We think he has an excellent chance to bring this seat back into the Republican column,” Carnevale told the Herald on Tuesday.

Republicans say the upcoming special election, which has not yet been scheduled, is a good opportunity to pick up a seat in the Senate, where Democrats hold a super-majority.

But the race may be more of a toss up as a result of changes lawmakers made to the district during the most recent redistricting process, when Holden, Gardner, and a sliver of Worcester were added. Previous election results also show Gobi consistently outpacing Republican challengers.

Holden has 3,003 registered Democrats, 1,956 registered Republicans, and more than 9,800 unenrolled voters and Gardner has 2,744 registered Democrats, 1,360 registered Republicans, and more than 8,8000 unenrolled voters, according to state statistics as of Feb. 1, 2023.

The entire city of Worcester is primarily Democratic — 33,725 voters are enrolled in the party there compared to 6,880 registered Republicans — but more registered voters, 66,242, are unenrolled. Gobi’s former district only includes the western edge of the city.

Gobi said in May that the additions give the district a “heavy Democratic” presence and “a good opportunity for a Democrat to retain the seat.”

Data compiled by the City University of New York shows more than half of the voters in Gobi’s former district voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election while 46% voted for former President Donald Trump.

Gobi was first elected to the seat in 2014, when she beat Republican Michael Valanzola by roughly 300 votes. She has consistently fended off challengers since then, though Republicans managed to pull in at least 45% of the vote in the 2022, 2020, 2018, and 2016 general elections.

Jerold Duquette, a political science professor at Central Connecticut State University who lives in Longmeadow, said the special election format may offer an advantage to candidates who are willing to “work their asses off … to do a lot of mobilizing and a lot of work.”

“In that sense, I agree with the Republicans, that this is their best shot. I wouldn’t put money on them or anything,” he said in an interview. “I think the angle that’s more interesting is how will the fact that it’s a special election impact the race, and I think that has everything to do with how much energy people are willing to put into it.”