Following the news Monday that GOP Sen. Thad Cochran would resign his seat April 1, The Washington Post reported that Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant was being urged by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to appoint himself to fill the vacancy.
Cochran, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, cited health issues as the reason for his retirement.
To those reporters who have covered McConnell and know the majority leader’s mastery of American history, this report was nothing short of stunning.
History shows that voters don’t look kindly on governors who think enough of themselves to self-appoint to the Senate.
Since popular elections of senators began with ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, nine governors have used their power of filling vacancies in the Senate to appoint themselves.
Of the nine, five were subsequently defeated in primaries and three lost the next general elections. Only one — Democratic Gov. Albert B. “Happy” Chandler of Kentucky — got away with the self-appointment. That was in 1939, when Democratic Sen. Marvel Logan died and Chandler resigned as governor to permit Lt. Gov. Keen Johnson to name him to the vacancy.
The following year, Chandler won a special election for the seat and a term of his own in 1942. Three years later, he resigned to become U.S. commissioner of baseball (in which he oversaw the integration of the major leagues with Jackie Robinson becoming the first black to play professional baseball).
The last governor to attempt self-appointment was Democrat Wendell Anderson of Minnesota. When Sen. Walter Mondale became vice president in 1977, Anderson resigned during his second term as governor and was named to the Senate by his successor, Lt. Gov. Rudy Perpich.
The following year, Anderson lost a race for the seat by a landslide to Republican businessman and first-time candidate Rudy Boschwitz.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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