On heels of McConnell news, KY House GOP advances US Senate vacancy election bill

Less than 24 hours after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, announced he was stepping down from leadership, Kentucky Republicans advanced a bill changing the rules for how a Senator would be replaced if they decide to step down from the office altogether.

House Bill 622 from House GOP Floor Leader Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, would strip the governor’s authority to appoint a replacement U.S. Senator and replace that process with a special election.

The bill easily passed the House Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee Thursday with all Republicans voting yes and only one of three Democrats voting no.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, whose role in replacing an outgoing U.S. Senator would be nixed in the bill, characterized the legislation as a legislative power grab. He lumped it alongside bills that seek to take away from the governor the power to appoint members of the board of education as well as the exclusive right to call the legislature into special session.

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He also indicated that the legislature’s changes to the law, which before 2021 allowed the governor to appoint anyone of their choosing, were informed by partisanship. He believes that’s not what Kentucky voters want, citing his five percentage point reelection victory on a message of transcending partisanship.

“If we are just dominated by trying to create a result of what letter someone would have behind their name, if appointed, then we are not performing or engaging in good government,” Beshear said. “Last November, people said ‘knock it off. We are tired of the rank partisanship, and we don’t want a candidate or a general assembly that just sees Team R or Team D.’”

Beshear also reaffirmed his commitment to serve out his second gubernatorial term, excluding the possibility of running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2026 or earlier.

“I’m completely and totally ruling out a run for any open Senate seat in 2026,” Beshear said. “I love this job.”

McConnell’s office did not comment on the bill. However, they did direct the Herald-Leader to the leader’s comments that he wasn’t going “anywhere anytime soon.”

“I will complete the job my colleagues have given me until we select a new Leader in November and they take the helm next January,” McConnell said. “I will finish the job the people of Kentucky hired me to do as well — albeit from a different seat in the chamber. I am looking forward to that.”

McConnell’s decision to step down from leadership in the U.S. Senate generated speculation that he may not seek an eighth term when his current term runs out after the 2026 election. McConnell has not committed to do so, though he has held fundraisers for his reelection efforts.

Leadership in the Republican-controlled state House and Senate, as well as Beshear, have expressed confidence that McConnell will serve out his term.

One member of leadership in particular, Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, has been both a strong ally of McConnell through the years and was the sponsor of a 2021 McConnell-backed law that changed the U.S. Senate vacancy process.

That bill mandated that the governor select a replacement for any U.S. senator vacating the office from a list of three provided by the state executive committee of the vacating senator’s party. In recent months, Beshear hasn’t said explicitly that he would follow that law and some Democrats in the state have predicted that he’ll resist it.

Sitvers said that he hadn’t read Rudy’s bill yet. However, he didn’t shut off the possibility of passing it.

“If somebody has a good idea, I’m open to it,” Stivers said.