Kentucky legislature limits governor’s Senate appointment power
BY REID WILSON 03/17/21 04:02 PM ET
The Kentucky legislature has passed a bill that would require a governor to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat with a member of the departed senator’s party in a move sure to spark the political rumor mill around Frankfort.
The bill would require a sitting governor to choose a replacement for a vacant Senate seat from a list of three candidates chosen by the top leadership of the former senator’s political party.
Both houses of Kentucky’s legislature are controlled by Republican supermajorities. They likely have the votes to override a veto that Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, could issue.
Kentucky’s two U.S. Senate seats are held by Republicans, both of whom have had health challenges in the last few years — but both of whom say they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), 79, suffered a fractured shoulder in a fall in 2019. He had triple bypass surgery in 2003. In 2020, he was photographed with bruised and bandaged hands, which he has declined to explain.
The only good news about Cocaine China Mitch is that he doesn’t do the Biden “old man shuffle” walk.