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State Rep. Brad Hill said Thursday that he will vote to keep Brad Jones for House minority leader, giving Jones more than half of the votes he needs to retain his post.

"I'm with Rep. Jones," Hill told PolitickerMA.com.

With Hill's vote, Jones has secured five votes among his caucus, including his own. He needs nine to retain his post as minority leader.

Republican state Rep. Paul Frost said Thursday that he is supporting Brad Jones in his fight to stay on as House minority leader.

Holden Republican Lewis Evangelidis announced Wednesday that his is challenging Jones for his post.

"I am supporting Rep. Brad Jones," he said. "He's done a great job as leader. He understands the importance of the balance it takes for someone to be minority leader. It's not just being partisan, you have to have a balance to make sure the members that serve under you are effective in the legislature."

State Rep. Todd Smola is backing Lewis Evangelidis in his run for House minority leader.

"I will be supporting Lew Evangelidis for minority leader," Smola told PolitickerMA.com on Thursday.

Smola is the first Republican state representative to announce he is supporting Evangelidis, of Holden. Evangelidis announced Wednesday that he is challenging current minority leader Brad Jones, of North Reading, for his post.

Republican state Rep. Vinny deMacedo said Thursday that he is supporting state Rep. Brad Jones to keep his post as House minority leader.

DeMacedo, a Plymouth Republican, is the second member of his party to support Jones since state Rep. Lewis Evangelidis announced Wednesday he is challenging Jones for his post this year. State Rep. George Peterson is also backing Jones.

"I think Lew Evangelidis is a great representative," deMacedo told PolitickerMA.com. "But I think Brad has done a great job. Despite the fact that I think the world of Lew, I do believe Brad has the ability to do a better job."

BOSTON - Republican state Rep. George Peterson said Thursday that he is sticking with current House Minority Leader Brad Jones.

Holden Republican Lewis Evangelidis announced Wednesday that he is challenging Jones, of North Reading, for his post.

"I am happy to support Brad Jones," Peterson, of Grafton, told PolitickerMA.com. "I fully expect Brad Jones to be leader in January. Absolutely."

Peterson is the first Republican representative to publicly state which side he is on in the leadership fight. With the number of Republicans dwindling to 16 in this year's election, Jones and Evangelidis need to secure just nine votes in their caucus to be elected minority leader in January.

Doug Bennett, a Republican Boston City Council candidate, said Thursday that he has already knocked on more than 26,000 doors in Boston as part of his amped up grassroots campaign.

Bennett, who lives in the North End, is running for one of the council's four at-large seats. Currently two at-large councilors - Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon - are rumored to be considering a run for mayor next year, which would create vacancies.

"What I am trying to do is maximize running a pure grassroots campaign," Bennett told PolitickerMA.com. "I'm trying to maximize my name exposure with people."

BOSTON - State Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei said Wednesday that state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson's resignation will allow the Senate to move forward with its business and hinted that the Senate would have voted to expel her if she hadn't stepped down.

"It's a relief that Senator Wilkerson finally decided to resign today," Tisei, a Wakefield Republican, wrote on the Senate Republicans' blog. "Clearly, the fact that the Senate had voted unanimously to ask for her resignation showed that she has lost the support of her colleagues. I believe the Senate would have taken additional action had she not stepped down voluntarily."

Tisei said that Wilkerson, who faces charges of accepting $23,500 in bribes, violated a code of conduct among elected officials.

BOSTON - State Rep. Brad Jones said Wednesday that he welcomes state Rep. Lewis Evangelidis' challenge for his post as House minority leader.

"I welcome Rep. Evangelidis' newfound enthusiasm and interest in participating," Jones, a North Reading Republican, told PolitickerMA.com.

Evangelidis declared his candidacy for the post on Wednesday after meeting with the House GOP caucus in Jones' office.

Jones said he was happy with how the meeting went.

"I thought we had a good, healthy discussion," he said. "It was a wide-ranging discussion, and people are looking for a way to move forward."

BOSTON - Coming right out of a House Republican caucus meeting in current Minority Leader Brad Jones' office Wednesady, state Rep. Lewis Evangelidis said that he is running for minority leader.

"I have said that I would like to seek the leadership of this party," Evangelidis, a Holden Republican, told PolitickerMA.com. "We have an election every two years, no one has a right to be leader. And I would like to offer a vision and work with the caucus to lead us in a direction that will allow us to grow our numbers."

Evangelidis declined to say how many Republican representatives were supporting his candidacy, but did say that the meeting was positive.

BOSTON - Moments after state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson's resignation letter was read in the Senate chamber Wednesday, state Senate President Therese Murray said the Senate is emerging from a trying time.

"The shadow is lifting, and in time, hopefully not too long from now, the good work of the Senate and our commitment to the people will once again be the focus of all inquiry and conversation," Murray, a Plymouth Democrat, said.

Wilkerson's resignation is the second to hit the Senate in less than a week. Jim Marzilli, an Arlington Democrat, stepped down last Friday  after details of a trip to Berlin, Germany, in October emerged. Marzilli is currently facing multiple counts of sexual harassment.