Has a Governor ever appointed a Senator of the opposite party ?

12-18-2006

[staytrue]

I thought someone might like to do some research.

Has a governor ever appointed a senator of the opposite party as the governor ?

[x]

When Robert Kennedy was assassinated, Nelson Rockefeller appointed Republican Charles Goodell to fill Kennedy's New York senate seat. According to Wikipedia, Goodell had been relatively conservative in the House, but in the Senate he followed senior Senator Jacob Javits's liberal policies.

"Rocky" obviously didn't feel obligated to appoint a Democrat, or to do anything he didn't want to do, ever.

But that's not what you're asking. There's a list of appointed Senators since 1913 on the Senate website. If you really, really want to know you can check it against governor lists elsewhere on the net.

For a long time, many states were virtually one-party regimes: so the Senators and Governor of Alabama would all be Democrats and those from Vermont would all be Republican, and the problem just wouldn't come up.

[Kimmers]

I agree, but I would not put it past the Dems......

[staytrue]

But I wonder if a republican could simply change party to become a democrat - temporarily, of course?

Ha, that is pretty funny. For every law they pass, there will be a way around it.

[staytrue]

That might count for a governor appointing across party lines, but I really think what we want is an R appointing a D to replace a D and vice versa. I can't find any example of that ever happening

That is what I would guess the result to be.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Stupid comment.

[sportutegrl]

Thanks, my memory ain't what it used to be.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hickel was a Republican during his first term in the late '60s (when he appointed Stevens to the Bartlett vacancy). He was an AIP member when he was elected for his second term in 1990.

[RightWhale]

Hickel is a Republican again. We probably think we elected Palin.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Actually, in that same Congress you cited, the balance of power technically shifted several times. Disgrunted liberal RINO OR Sen. Wayne Morse left the GOP just prior to the 1952 elections, he being the balance of power, and like Jeffords, he switched to "Independent." But the comparison stops there. Morse acknowledged that the nation voted for a GOP majority in that election, so he did not vote to hand control to LBJ, the Democrat leader, and allowed the GOP to hold control, even if only on paper, under Robert Taft, and following his death, William Knowland.

You'll find this page of interest:
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Membership_Changes_83.htm

[fieldmarshaldj]

Yeah, records said he switched back at some point prior to his leaving office in 1994.