This January, Senator Kamala Harris will resign her seat to become vice president. How will that seat be filled? How does the process differ among states, and also between both chambers of Congress?
Our guest today is Matthew Tokeshi, Assistant Professor of political science at Williams College.
Transcript
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[00:00:03] And I'm curious if anybody has already started to pitch themselves as a replacement to You.
[00:00:08] Well, you may be the only one that hasn't unless you just did.
Nick Capodice: [00:00:13] You're listening to Civics 101 I'm Nick Capodice.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:15] I'm Hannah McCarthy.
Nick Capodice: [00:00:16] And today we're answering this question. Our listener Judy wrote, How is a U.S. senator seat filled after they're elected president or vice president?
Matt Tokeshi: [00:00:25] I don't know if this listener question was inspired by Kamala Harris, but Kamala Harris is a perfect example. Right?
Nick Capodice: [00:00:31] This is Matt Tokeshi. He's professor of political science at Williams College.
Matt Tokeshi: [00:00:35] Ok, so for Senate vacancies, each state has different rules. So the 17th Amendment of the Constitution empowers state legislatures to grant the governor the power to name a temporary replacement. So in 45 of the U.S. states, the legislature has granted that the governor that appointment power. And in five states, the legislature does not grant the governor a temporary appointment power.
Nick Capodice: [00:01:00] And I have to add that it's not terribly common. So far in U.S. history, 15 senators, including Kamala Harris, have resigned to become vice president. But only three U.S. senators, Barack Obama, Warren G Harding and John F. Kennedy were elected president while they were holding that Senate seat.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:18] Matt said that 45 states have the governor pick a replacement. But what about the other five states?
Nick Capodice: [00:01:24] So North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin don't allow gubernatorial selected Senate replacements. In those states, Senators have to be elected by the people in a special election.
Matt Tokeshi: [00:01:34] So Harris is a U.S. senator from California. And California is one of the 45 states that empowers its governor to appoint, in this case, Senator Harris's replacement.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:45] When Matt says these are a temporary replacement, how long does that last?
Nick Capodice: [00:01:50] It lasts until a special election is held. As to when that happens, it varies greatly from state to state. Most states hold it at the next statewide election, 13 states require a special election to be held in a certain time frame after that governor's appointment.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:06] Ok, that's the Senate.
Matt Tokeshi: [00:02:07] OK, so let me talk about the House. Article one of the Constitution says that House vacancies are filled by special elections. So unlike the Senate, there are no temporary appointment powers granted to anyone. There is a special election that's held, you know, soon after that vacancy.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:25] I'm curious about other positions besides the president and the vice president. Is the process the same if a senator or representative resigns to become a cabinet member?
Matt Tokeshi: [00:02:35] The rules for replacing senators and representatives joining the cabinet are the same for, you know, whether they leave to become the president or vice president or if they die or become sick or retire. This is to fill vacancies for any reason. The rules are all the same. So, for example, President elect Biden has named one U.S. in this case representative, to be a part of his cabinet so far. And that's Ohio Representative Marcia Fudge, who is going to be nominated to be the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Ohio Democrats are already lining up to fill that Marcia Fudge seat.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:11] So when a president picks members of their cabinet, I imagine they have to consider not only the right person for the job, but also that they'll be removing that person from their current position of power.
Matt Tokeshi: [00:03:23] That is definitely a consideration. And that's exactly what we're seeing with what President elect Biden. There's lots of factors that go into it. So President elect Biden so far has mostly selected more, I guess, technocratic type people rather than ambitious politicians who are seeking further office. So he's opted more for people that he's personally familiar with and who are, I guess, less politically ambitious, which means he hasn't named anyone from the Senate. But if you name a senator, you don't know for sure who the replacement is going to be and where. You have a very close fight for party control in the Senate, every single one of those seats is precious. You want to be very, very careful. And in fact, the the most careful way to approach this is just to not name somebody currently in the in the Senate.
[00:04:12] That's how we fill vacated seats in Congress here today on Civics 101. Don't forget to submit your questions at our website, civics101podcast.org.
