Five states currently require Senate vacancies to be filled only by special elections; their governors are not empowered to fill a vacancy by appointment. They are Kentucky, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Typically, these states provide for an expedited election process in order to reduce the period during which the seat is vacant. If the vacancy falls late in the term, the seat is filled at the regularly scheduled general election.
This appears to say the Governor of kentucky cant appoint a replacement Senator.
It would depend upon whether the method the Kentucky legislature used to change what had been Kentucky policy for decades (that the Governor DID have the right to make the appointment), is considered legitimate by the courts.
What I’ve seen is that Beshear likely finds this worth testing–not that it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll get the decision he wants.
> How do special elections for U.S. Senate work in Kentucky?
The process for filling U.S. Senate vacancies is similar to the process for filling other federal and state elected > offices, although that wasn’t always the case.
Under Kentucky law, a U.S. Senate vacancy must be filled by a special election, which must be called for by the governor.
If I understand correctly, the 2024 law may be unconstitutional under the Kentucky constitution. The argument being, taking that power from the governor should have required an amendment; not a mere law.
So, is it safe to assume that the point of this is to test whether or not the law will pass a test, but not an actual attempt to appoint a successor? I don’t have confidence that they’ll settle the dispute before November. Government rarely moves this fast.
(I say this as someone who works for state government, though a different state.)
When I read statements like this, it sure sounds to me like a person talking to a comatose patient..you tell them about what you’ve been doing, maybe get a little wistful about old times, and end with a myopic wish that they could just get up and get back to the way things were.
In Christmas of 2020, my best friend had a stroke. He was in a coma for months, and when he woke up, he was non-communicative for a long time. He eventually recovered almost all of the way, but there was a time period where I would call him over Zoom and talk with him and just talked to him. He didn’t really respond, but he sort of seemed aware of me talking to him at least. Regardless, I wanted to be there for him as best as I could (considering I couldn’t physically be there) and I had no idea how much he was aware of me or what he could remember. (Today, he says he doesn’t remember any of those interactions.)
Anyway, bottom line is, yes that does remind me of that, quite a bit. I didn’t talk with him, but talked to him quite a bit.
Plausible deniability when it’s disclosed that McConnell was declared brain-dead days before the “conversation.”
Today video was released of the day (June 14) McConnell was taken from his residence. Witnesses noted there was NO oxygen mask on him, and the ambulance did NOT use a siren when leaving.
Suggestive of ‘no hurry, this is a done deal.’ But no doubt Scott Jennings would come up with some other explanation.
Well he is covered by a blanket while EMT’s load him into an ambulance, his feet are bare and not covered but the rest of him is. They are also in zero hurry and do not turn on the siren when leaving. I cannot imagine he was alive even then.
They had to know they were being filmed. They couldn’t have been so leisurely if they were dealing with someone whose life needed saving----they’d have been legally liable for negligence, surely.
