Senate Vacancies

12 Democratic U.S. senators were up for reelection this year. All of them successfully sought reelection. Some commentator (I forget who it was) said before the election that the only two Democrats likely to be leaving the Senate were Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And now we know that that will be the case.

Senators in that situation usually resign their seats some time between the adjournment of the outgoing Congress, and the convening of the next Congress. It is considered likely that the current Congress will go back into a "lame duck session" later this month. Obama and Biden will presumably want to hold on to their Senate seats until that session adjourns.

If they resign a few days before the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2009, their successors will be higher in seniority than incoming senators who begin their terms on January 3.

Standard procedure for filling Senate vacancies is for the governor to make an interim appointment, that is effective until a special election is held. Special election laws vary among the states. However, since Obama's Senate term is up in 2010 anyway, there would be no special election in Illinois.

Illinois' governor is Democrat Rod Blagojevich. The most prominent name that has been mentioned as a potential appointee is U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Other candidates include U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and state Senate President Emil Jones.

Governor Ruth Ann Minner, Democrat of Delaware, will leave office on January 20, 2009. Assuming Biden resigns before the new Congress convenes, Minner will make the interim appointment. But even if, for whatever reason, the appointment is delayed until after January 20, it won't make much difference, because Minner will be succeeded by fellow Democrat Jack Markell.

There is much speculation that Biden wants to maneuver his son, state Attorney General Beau Biden, into the Senate seat. Beau Biden will soon be sent to Iraq with his National Guard unit, so his first chance at the Senate would probably be at the 2010 special election. If so, the vice president-elect would want Minner to appoint a "placeholder" who would not challenge Beau Biden in the special election.

Candidates for appointment by Minner include state Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor and Lieutenant Governor John Carney. It can never be guaranteed that such an appointee will cooperate and step aside when the special election comes around.