Did John Kerry have to give up his seat to run for Pres.? If not, is this because he’d only have to give it up based on a positive outcome? Also, I assume his seat was not up for re-election this time, correct? So, if his seat was not upf or re-election and had he won the Presidency, how is a replacement Senator selected? Would MA have an emergency election? Would the MA legislature decide with the Gov’s approval? …Or, would MA have one less Senator?
Last, suppose Kerry would have been up for re-election this time? Or, does a Presidential hopeful only run in an off-year to avoid losing his/her seat? I assume John Edwards’ seat was not up for grabs, either, correct? - Jinx
A Senator (or anything else) whose term has not expired is free to run for another office, and will either (a) resign his seat if he wins, or (b) resume his seat if he loses.
In the specific case you ask, IIRC Massachusetts law, recently amended, holds that the seat that he would have resigned remain vacant until the next election – there was a GQ thread on this not two days ago; check the forum list. In most states, either the Governor or Legislature will appoint an interim Senator to hold office until the next election, at which someone will be elected to serve out the remainder of the term. If the Governor or Legislature (as appropriate for that state) does not call a special election, then that means the next general election.
John Edwards’ term is up as of January 3, 2005; Congressman Richard Burr defeated Erskine Bowles to become his replacement.
In a couple of cases, LBJ in 1960 being the most notorious, state law was amended to provide that a Senator whose term was expiring could both run for re-election as Senator and for either President or Vice-President.
You don’t have to resign from the Senate in order to run for president or vice president. In fact, in at least three cases (Lyndon Johnson, Lloyd Bentsen, Joseph Lieberman), they were simultaneously candidates for vice president and senator.
The only restriction is that you can’t hold two federal offices simultaneously. Had Kerry been elected either he would have to resign from the Senate before taking the oath as president or the act of being sworn in as president would have acted as an automatic resignation from teh Senate.
Replacing a senator who does not complete his term for whatever reason is up to state law. In most states, the governor is empowered to appoint a replacement until the November election in the next even-numbered year. In other words, the appointed senator can hold a seat for no more than two years. Following this “special” election, the seat goes back to its normal election schedule, which may mean that the elected replacement might face a re-election fight within another two or four years, rather than a full six-year term.
However, in Massachusetts, the law was changed removing the governor’s right to appoint a replacement. It would have provided for a special election even sooner than usual.
John Edwards’s term is expiring. However, he decided some time ago not to run for re-election. He could have chosen the Johnson/Bentsen/Lieberman route and run for both vice president and senator.
I thought I remembered hearing that the eligibility of a senator to run for another office (presumably Pres or VP) that the winning of would force him to vacate his senate seat was governed by each state’s laws. I am I confusing that with representatives?
Because he was elected in 1998 to a six-year term, and chose to run for the nomination for President (and then was tapped as Kerry’s running mate) in preference to running for a second term as Senator. (North Carolina, not Tennessee, by the way.) I have no idea whether NC law would have permitted him to run for both – but as matters stood he gave way to the half dozen people vying for the nomination if he chose not to run, among whom Erskine Bowles won the nomination.
Correction: The new law held that the seat would remain vacant until a special election could be held, within 5 months of the Senator resigning. The old law let the Governor appoint a replacement who would hold the office until the next regular election, at which time another replacement would be elected to serve out the rest of the term.
So if Kerry had won, old plan - Gov appoints someone who holds seat until 2006, election held in 2006, winner holds seat until 2008, which is the natural expiration of that Senate seat. New plan: special election held in spring 2005, winner holds seat until 2008.
Your thread title asks about a “Rep” which I take to mean “Representative,” a member of the House of Representatives. Kerry and Edwards are members of the Senate. The Senate and the House are separate chambers. Representatives are elected to two year terms. There are no “off years” for elections for president and Representative, because the entire House of Representatives is up for re-election every even-numbered year and presidential elections are always even-numbered years.
And, in case someone’s wondering, if a member of the House of Representatives ran for VP and won, he’d also have to resign. Generally, a special election is called to elect a representative when the office falls vacant.
