List of Special Elections To The United States Senate - Appointments By Governors

Appointments By Governors

Prior to ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, most state legislatures appointed U.S. Senators. The Seventeenth Amendment states that special elections will be held to fill vacant Senate seats, but that state legislatures may empower the governor of the state to fill the seat by an appointment between the time that it becomes vacant and the time that the winner of the special election is certified. As of 2009, four states, Massachusetts, Oregon, Wisconsin and Oklahoma require special elections, Oklahoma permitting its governor to appoint only the winner of a special election. Alaska in 2004 enacted legislation and a separate ballot referendum law that took effect on the same day, that conflict. It is uncertain if the Alaska governor may successfully appoint an interim Senator to serve until the mandated special election occurs 60 to 90 days after the vacancy happens. The ballot-approved law fails to specifically authorize the governor to appoint, though the legislative law does.

Since 1913, 184 senators have been appointed to fill vacancies. Of those, 63 did not later run for election; 56 ran and lost the subsequent special election; and 60 ran and won the election.