This bill seems like a win for both parties. But sadly Dems don’t seem to have any foresight. Kentucky Legislators put together a bill that would make it so if a Senator did not make it full term then he could choose a successor to finish out the term, likely someone from the same party. But Dem Governor Beshear felt this infringed upon his power and vetoed the bill.
“United States Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) commented on his position in the Senate after a bill was recently passed in the Kentucky state legislature regarding appointments to vacant Senate seats.
The bill, SB 228, requires the Kentucky governor to fill an empty seat in the Senate with a person from the same political party from the departing senator. It also makes it so that the governor must select a successor from a list of three people given to the governor by the executive committee of the same party of the departing lawmaker.”
Democratic Governor Andy Beshear claims “Senate Bill 228 violates that very purpose of the amendment by returning the power, specifically in law, to a political party to come up with names for a vacancy.”
McConnell also commented on bill SB 228.
“I don’t think we’re going to have a vacancy. I’m not going anywhere. I just got elected to a six-year term. And I’m still the leader of my party in the Senate, so this is a hypothetical,” McConnell said. “But I had watched this over the years in the Senate as various vacancies were filled and I thought this was the best way to go.”
There is no reason not to do this. It’s not set up to benefit one party over another, it just keeps the same party in the seat, which the people choose. The Governor clearly just wanted the opportunity to seat someone of his choosing if McConnell were unable to finish his term.