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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Fri Feb 2, 2018, 09:54 AM Feb 2018

McConnell urges Mississippi governor to consider Cochran Senate seat

By Michael Scherer, Sean Sullivan and Josh Dawsey February 1 at 9:15 PM

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has asked the governor of Mississippi to consider appointing himself to the Senate if ailing Republican Sen. Thad Cochran resigns from office, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

The idea, which McConnell (R-Ky.) discussed directly with GOP Gov. Phil Bryant this week, would give Republicans a formidable candidate in advance of a possible special election in the state later this fall.

President Trump, a supporter of Bryant, backs the plan, according to a person familiar with the situation, though there are several other options that McConnell and Trump have discussed if Bryant declines. Like others interviewed for this article, the person spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks.

McConnell is determined not only to protect his majority but add to it in November’s midterm elections, and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering over Mississippi reflects his attempt to avoid the calamity of the Alabama Senate race. Last year, conservative firebrand Roy Moore stunned establishment Sen. Luther Strange in the Alabama primary runoff, then lost the longtime GOP-held Senate seat to Democrat Doug Jones.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcconnell-urges-mississippi-governor-to-consider-cochran-senate-seat/2018/02/01/7f455d68-079d-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html

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McConnell urges Mississippi governor to consider Cochran Senate seat (Original Post) DonViejo Feb 2018 OP

Can he really appoint himself? marylandblue Feb 2018 #1

When Governors Appoint Themselves To The Senate dalton99a Feb 2018 #2

marylandblue

(12,344 posts)

1. Can he really appoint himself?

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Feb 2, 2018, 09:57 AM

Feb 2018

That seems very strange.

dalton99a

(81,513 posts)

2. When Governors Appoint Themselves To The Senate

Reply to marylandblue (Reply #1)

Fri Feb 2, 2018, 10:03 AM

Feb 2018

https://www.npr.org/sections/politicaljunkie/2009/09/when_governors_appoint_themsel.html
When Governors Appoint Themselves To The Senate
September 8, 2009 3:54 PM ET

Yes, and the results were not especially good news for the governor-turned-senator.

Of course, for the record, these governors did not actually appoint themselves; they resigned as governor and had their successors name them to the Senate. But for the most part it served as a self-appointment, and the voters nearly always let their resentment known at the first opportunity.

Two famous examples: After the death of South Carolina Sen. Olin Johnston (D) in 1965, Donald Russell (D) resigned as governor and was appointed to the Senate by his successor, Lt. Gov. Robert McNair. Voters immediately dumped now-Sen. Russell in the 1966 primary. In Minnesota, after Sen. Walter Mondale (D) ascended to the vice presidency, Wendell Anderson (D) resigned as governor and had his successor, Lt. Gov. Rudy Perpich, appoint him to the Senate. Anderson got knocked off in the '78 elections.

Of all the governors who had themselves appointed to the Senate, only one was able to win a subsequent election on his own. Kentucky Gov. Albert B. "Happy" Chandler (D), who came to the Senate in 1939, won in a special election in 1940 and again in 1942. (He resigned his seat in 1945 to become baseball commissioner.)

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