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Although there is confusion over West Virginia's succession law, Democrats and Republicans tell First Read that whomever Gov. Joe Manchin (D) appoints to replace Robert Byrd in the Senate will probably be able to serve through 2012.
At issue is whether the appointment will last through the end of this year (with a special election for the seat this year) or through 2012 (when Byrd's term expires).
Here is the relevant state code:
Any vacancy occurring in the office of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, attorney general, commissioner of agriculture, United States senator, judge of the supreme court of appeals, or in any office created or made elective, to be filled by the voters of the entire state, or judge of a circuit court, shall be filled by the governor of the state by appointment. If the unexpired term of a judge of the supreme court of appeals, or a judge of the circuit court, be for less than two years; or if the unexpired term of any other office named in this section be for a period of less than two years and six months, the appointment to fill the vacancy shall be for the unexpired term. If the unexpired term of any office be for a longer period than above specified, the appointment shall be until a successor to the office has timely filed a certificate of candidacy, has been nominated at the primary election next following such timely filing and has thereafter been elected and qualified to fill the unexpired term.
Translation: If the unexpired term for the Senate is for more than 30 months, then there needs to be a special election to fill the seat. And as it turns out, Byrd's unexpired term WOULD BE for more than 30 months (which would be Dec. 28, 2012, and Byrd's seat expires on Jan. 3, 2013).
But the part of the code describing the "primary election next following such timely filing" is leading observers to believe that the election for the seat won't occur to 2012, because West Virginia already had its primaries back in May, and the next scheduled elections aren't until 2012.
Confused? Well, West Virginia's Secretary of State's office tells NBC News that it will be releasing a statement this afternoon to make sense of the state's succession law.
Leave a Comment:
Mark: Let me try again. WHo is now the President ProTemp of the senate. That person is now fourth in succession to be President?
Currently, the position is vacant until a new President Pro Tempore is elected by the Senate.
As the position traditionally goes to the senior member of the majority party, it will most likely go to Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. If not, the next most senior member is Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
Da Noid:
Thanks: I would have missed that Jeopardy question. I thought it automatically went to the longest serving Senator.
President Pro-Tempore is THIRD in line to the Presidency, not fourth also. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed by President Harry Truman, changed the order again to what it is today. The cabinet members are ordered in the line of succession according to the date their offices were established.
Will someone be appointed in time to vote for the Financial Reform Bill? I'm sure Governor Manchin will appoint a Democrat. I just hope whoever is appointed is a strong supporter of President Obama not like that traitor Ben Nelson. Do you believe he voted against extending unemployment benefits. Over a million people depend on unemployment to feed their children until the job market opens up. How does Ben Nelson sleep at night knowing that a child may go to bed hungry tonight . Utterly heartless just like the Republicans.
Dottie,
Ben Nelson sleeps at night just the same as all the other members of Congress that have grown comfortable and fat swilling at the trough of big business. These people are quite content living the good life. You think that members of Congress like Big Ben have any idea what those in America that actually work for a living endure daily? Do you think they really care?
Reading those two provisions together yields the conclusion that there must be a "special election," but that special election also coincides with the state's regular election calendar. Because the primaries for the 2010 elections have already occurred, the next regular primary is in 2012. The upshot, I believe is that Gov. Manchin gets to appoint an interim Senator until the November 2012 election, which in this case will be a timely special election to fill out the remainder of the Byrd term under this law. Unlike with regular November 2012 elections, the winner would immediately take office, rather than waiting for the opening of the next Congress in January 2013. The state Supreme Court has already resolved a vacancy case along these lines. The only open question is whether the 2012 Special Election can double as the regular election for the Jan. 2013-Jan. 2019 six year term which is also on the 2012 ballot (like Minnesota did in 2002 after the Wellstone plane crash) or whether there will need to be two separate election contests on the 2012 ballot: one to fill the remaining two months of the Byrd term, and one for the following six years (like in Texas' 22d Congressional District in 2006).