Anyone tracking the ongoing saga around Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health and how Kentucky fills US Senate vacancies has probably seen the same date pop up over and over: August 3.
According to some social media political commentators, Aug. 3 is allegedly the last day Kentucky could call a special election to replace McConnell ahead of the November general election. They believe, with minimal proof, that McConnell has secretly been dead for weeks and his death has been covered up and will only be revealed after the Aug. 3 deadline passes.
So, Hellbender Newsroom looked into it: Is Monday really the deadline to call a special election to replace McConnell if his Senate seat becomes vacant?
The short answer is no.
Actually, it doesn’t look like there’s a deadline at all, despite what you may be reading elsewhere.
In Kentucky, a 2024 state law says Senate vacancies must be filled via special election. The state has plenty of rules around special election timelines like when an election needs to be formally proclaimed, how long parties have to pick candidates, etc.
But it doesn’t have a clear timeline on when a special election actually has to happen. Hellbender examined a few recent special elections in Kentucky, and found some that took around 70 days from start to finish, while others took more than 100 days to play out.
So, while there isn’t a clear deadline to call a special election in state law, there is some legal discourse around whether or not that law violates the state constitution.
Kentucky’s state constitution gives the governor the power to appoint someone on a temporary basis should a vacancy occur in state offices. In the constitution, a three-month rule is mentioned, which is most likely where the Aug. 3 date came from.
It isn’t clear, though, if a US Senate seat would qualify as a state office, and thus be subject to that appointment process and related three-month provision.
Monday morning, Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media that Aug. 3 has “no legal impact on my options should there be a vacancy this year.”
McConnell was set to retire at the end of this year, so Kentuckians were already going to select his replacement during the Nov. 3 election.
That is 92 days away, and the most likely path right now seems to be to simply have the special election, if one is needed, on Nov. 3. This would essentially just mean the new senator would be sworn in in November instead of waiting until January when most new terms start.
McConnell has been out of public view since mid-June, when he says he fell at home and was subsequently hospitalized. In two recent statements, McConnell said he’s since moved to a rehabilitation center, where he continues to recover and undergo physical therapy.
As of late July, McConnell had not been medically cleared to head back to the Senate floor.
