The legal and political situation surrounding the Senate seat formerly held by the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) remains murky for now. West Virginia’s governor will undoubtedly appoint Byrd’s replacement. But it remains unclear whether that successor will serve the full remainder of Byrd’s term through 2012, or whether a special election will also be held this year.
State law provides for an appointment in any case. If the vacancy occurs with less than two years and six months in the term (the key date being this coming July 3), then the law doesn’t require any further special election until Byrd’s term would have come up anyway, at the regular election in 2012. With a vacancy of more than two years and six months, the law calls for a special election, with a temporary appointment.
But when does a vacancy officially occur? Is it when Byrd died last night? Upon the state officially declaring a vacancy? Or the Senate officially declaring a vacancy? So far, no definite answers have been revealed.
The next issue is that Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin is said to want the seat himself, and would start out as a frontrunner even in a state that has been trending more Republican. Manchin has ruled out appointing himself to the seat — meaning that if he did want the seat, he would presumably appoint a placeholder who would not run in the next election, whenever it may be.
When asked about Manchin’s position on the law, Manchin’s press secretary Melvin Smith told TPMDC: “As far as any details, and what’s the governor’s plans will be, that will be forthcoming. But for now, his focus is solely on mourning our late, great Senator.”
Jake Glance, spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, told us: “There are a lot of sections of state code that pertain to the appointment process. Right now, we are taking a look at each one of them and making sure that any kind of time line we give is correct for this particular office at this particular time.”
Late Update: West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant will hold a press conference at 4:30 p.m. ET, to announce when an election for Byrd’s Senate seat would take place.
