| With questions about the health of U.S. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) swirling around the capital these days based on some of his recent awkward public appearances, attention has been focused on the statute in place in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky that deals with filling Senate vacancies. In 2021, at McConnell’s own suggestion, Kentucky made changes to the state law addressing how Senate vacancies are to be dealt with if one of Kentucky’s two U.S. senators leaves office before the end of his term. The law in place since 2021 tightly constrains appointment power by the state’s governor (currently a Democrat) and at the same time confers power upon the political party with which a Senator who has left office was affiliated. (Currently both of the U.S. senators—McConnell and Rand Paul—are Republicans.) This is the Kentucky statute in its entirety: |
| The Governor may fill vacancies at the United States Senate by appointment. The appointee will serve until his or her successor is elected and qualifies under [subsections below.] The appointee will be selected from three (3) nominees submitted by state executive committees of the same political parties as the… |
