Apropos of nothing, and certainly not to imply Kentucky’s senior senator is dying, but we’ve heard your questions: If one of Kentucky’s seats in Washington DC happens to become vacant, what happens?
Kentucky is one of five states that requires some sort of election to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. (The other four, should you be interested, are North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.)
This means Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear does not get to pick someone to fill a vacant seat—even as a short-term appointment.
Kentucky’s governor used to be able to temporarily appoint someone to fill a vacancy, but the state’s Republican-led legislature has whittled away that authority over the last few years since Beshear became governor.
Shortly into Beshear’s first term as governor, the legislature limited the governor’s appointment power to needing to pick someone from a short list of options from the outgoing senator’s political party—preventing Beshear from picking a Democrat. In 2024, the legislature removed the governor’s role in the selection process entirely, requiring the spot to be filled via election.
Now, Kentucky would typically need to hold a special election to fill a US Senate vacancy. Both major political parties would pick their candidates, and those candidates would face off to see who wins the seat. The special election winner would get to stay in the seat for the rest of the term, according to state law.
It is not clear what would happen if a vacancy were to occur a few months before a general election, like what could happen in the coming months should US Sen. Mitch McConnell step down or die. McConnell already planned on not running for reelection this fall, and both parties had contested primaries to pick Democrat Charles Booker and Republican Andy Barr as their candidates for November’s election.
Hellbender Newsroom reached out to Kentucky’s Secretary of State’s office for clarity and we have not yet heard back.
