In the week since Assemblyman Clarence Norman was convicted of soliciting illegal campaign contributions, there has been much discussion about who will replace him as the head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

While that wrangling has captured the headlines, candidates have also been quietly lining up to run for the Assembly seat he held in Crown Heights for 23 years. Governor Pataki is expected to call a special election by April 1 to fill the seat, which was stripped from Norman upon his conviction on three felony counts.

Several Brooklyn politicians and district leaders said yesterday that of the handful of people who have expressed interest in running, the party leadership is most likely to back the executive pastor of the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, the Reverend Karim Camara. Norman’s father, Clarence Norman Sr., is the pastor of that church.

Others said to be interested include a former deputy borough president, Jeannette Gadsen; the brother of slain Council Member James Davis, Geoffrey Davis; an attorney and one-time City Council candidate, Edward Roberts, and a judicial candidate, Sandra Roper. Rev. Camara said he had not been urged by either Mr. Norman or his son to run for the seat.

A district leader of Park Slope, Alan Fleishman, said that because the district is heavily Democratic, because there are no primaries in special elections, and because turnout will be low, the party essentially anoints a replacement.

“Whoever is chosen in the Democratic County Committee procedure and gets the Democratic line is going to be the next Assembly person,” he said. “There’s no question about that.”

The Working Families Party, however, has said it is willing to back a candidate if it is not satisfied with the process within the Democratic Party.

Vacant Assembly seats are a rarity in New York, and given that incumbents are generally re-elected by large margins, it is not surprising that so many people are interested. With no term limits in place for the office, the position comes with job security.

Ms. Roper, who ran against Norman in 2002, said she is “mulling it over.”

“I’ve always been an insurgent,” she said. “I’ve never run with party backing, so that would not be a concern. My supporters did mention it to me. We’re mulling it over.”

Mr. Davis said he had not talked to anyone in the Democratic Party but is planning on running even if it means establishing a new party.

The Democratic district leaders who will be making the decision about the nominee are closely aligned with the political club run by Norman loyalists, Mr. Fleishman said.

“Since the county committee, to my knowledge, is controlled by the Thurgood Marshall Club, which is run by Clarence Norman and Senator Carl Andrews, I would imagine whoever they choose will get the seat,” he said.

Rev. Camara, 34, graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and received a master’s degree from the New York Theological Seminary.

According to the Board of Elections, Mr. Pataki does not have to call a special election, but he has in other cases of vacated seats.