The Kucinich thread in election got me thinking, how does seniority work in situations where a congressman changes districts or if they lose and are later reelected.
I understand that neither party is obligated to take into account how long someones been around for selecting committee chairs and such, but both regularly do. Generally hows it work out?
Kucinich is currently a 8 term congressman when his district disappears if he get elected to the house again would he be back to the status of a 1st termer?
It’s up to the party and they’ll make a decision depending on the circumstances. Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter dealt with issues like these when they were primaried. Lieberman was elected as an independent but the Democrats allowed him to keep his seniority because they wanted to make sure he could caucus with them. I don’t think Specter maintained his seniority.
The situation Kucinich finds himself in is common in that districts are changed or eliminated every 10 years, but his potential solution - moving to another state and running for election from there - is very uncommon.
Seniority goes with the elected person, not the District.
So if the District name changes, or the District boundaries change, if Joe Blow is re-elected to his 5th term, he holds seniority of 5 terms. Even if the 5 terms weren’t consecutive (he lost one time, then won the next time), they still count as 5 terms for seniority.
Time served as an appointed Congressperson counts too, just like elected time. So if the prior Congressperson resigns in December, and the Governor of the state appoints the Congressperson-elect to fill that vacancy in December, a month earlier than they would have been sworn-in in January, then he has a month of extra seniority over other Congresspersons elected at the same time. That may be enough to get him some better committee assignments, thus maybe able to help his state more. So this sometimes happens. (Especially if the retiring Congressperson, the newly-elected one, and the Governor are all from the same political party.)
Minor comment on the prior post. The early appointment gig only works for Senators. Representatives can win a special election to take a vacant seat and get a leg up on seniority, but they aren’t appointed.
But changing your district number will not affect seniority.
The early appointment gig doesn’t work any more for Senators, either, and hasn’t since 1980. The Senate no longer recognizes early appointments, to vacancies created when a retiring Senator resigned after the election, in determination of seniority.
Senators elected to a vacant seat, or to a seat held by an appointed predecessor, can still be sworn in early and get a jump in seniority.
Note that the House and the Senate have different rules with respect to non-continuous service. In the House, length of service is the primary determinant, with continuity as the tie-breaker. In the Senate, continuous service is the primary determinant, with previous non-consecutive service as a tie-breaker.
So Senator Dan Coats, sworn in on 1/3/2011 after previously serving in the Senate from 1989 to 1999, gains seniority only over other Senators sworn in on the same date.
Whereas Representative Ron Paul, a veteran of 11 terms with two breaks in service, takes precedence over continuous ten-termers but trails continuous 11-termers.