McConnell

• There’s an empty seat in the U.S. Senate now that California’s longtime and senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, has died.
• Phil Murphy, who would appoint a replacement for Menendez, has said the senator should step down.
• So far, Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, has refused to resign from the Senate.
• The possibility of other U.S. Senate vacancies looms, as well.

Who has the power in most states to temporarily or permanently replace US senators?

• That person will serve until the next election for that seat, in November 2024.
• But there are rules about when and how these elections occur and those rules vary by state.
• In 37 states, gubernatorial appointees serve the remainder of the term or until the next scheduled general election.
• In the remaining states with gubernatorial appointments, special elections are required, often with an accelerated timetable.
• Those states only fill U.S. Senate vacancies by special election, but laws specify time periods in most states.

How long do those appointments last?

If a person appointed to the seat by the governor then wins a special election or a contest scheduled alongside statewide elections, they will serve the remainder of the vacating senator’s term. Otherwise, if someone else wins the special election, they get to serve out the vacating senator’s term.

What rules are there on how governors make the appointments?

• In 10 of the gubernatorial appointment states, U.S. senators must be from the same party as the prior incumbent.
• Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming have this restriction.
• In the rest of the states, the governor has the power to appoint a successor, regardless of party, including in California.

Do state legislators have a say in the process?

• While governors have most of the power, state legislators also have a say in the process.
• Most notably, legislators establish the appointment procedures and set the general rules about when an election must occur.
• Dissatisfied with that process, the Republican-controlled legislature passed a law to allow gubernatorial appointments for vacated U.S. Senate seats.

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• His doctor has said the episodes are part of the normal recovery from a concussion McConnell experienced in March, but political circles are concerned about his ability to continue to serve.
• His success could hardly have been predicted when Senate Republicans elected McConnell as their leader in 2006.
• He fulfilled that threat in 2016, refusing to confirm Merrick Garland, Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court.
• Trump had exercised his power with what often seems like reckless audacity, but McConnell’s 36-year Senate tenure is built on his calculated audacity.

McConnell’s political rise

• McConnell ran anyway.
• But McConnell won.
• They reacted emotionally to this touchy issue; he studied it, owned it and moved higher in the leadership.

Business, not service

• McConnell makes up for that by having command of the rules and the facts and a methodical attitude.
• The recording on his home phone once said, “This is Mitch McConnell.
• Not something like “my service to you in the United States Senate,” but “business.” This lack of emotion keeps McConnell disciplined.
• The first word was no surprise, because of McConnell’s well-known maxim; the second one intrigued me.

McConnell’s Supreme Court

• He and his colleagues slow-walked and filibustered Obama’s nominees, requiring “aye” votes from 60 of the 100 senators to confirm each one.
• The process consumed so much time that then-Majority Leader Harry Reid abolished the filibuster for nominations, except those to the Supreme Court.
• Trump’s 2016 victory preserved the Senate Republican majority, which then did away with the Supreme Court exception, allowing McConnell and his colleagues to install by simple majority vote the sort of Supreme Court justices they wanted: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
• It is the Roberts Court, but it is also the McConnell Court.

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• “It is with a profound sense of pride that I stand up here on behalf of 15,000 people at Essentia Health,” said Essentia Health CEO Dr. Herman said.
• Equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology and a reimagined healthcare delivery model, St. Mary’s Medical Center is set to redefine the continuum of care for the region’s patients.
• Essentia Health completed moving current patients into the new facility on July 30.