If Rep. Conyers Steps Down, Who Will Get the Open Seat?

Whether or not Conyers — who has denied all charges — serves out his latest term or resigns and triggers a special election, the question now is whether he can follow through with a succession plan and pass on his seat to his grand-nephew, state Sen. Ian Conyers.

When the scandal became public, it was widely thought that Conyers, 88 years old and the second-longest serving U.S. Representative (nearly 53 years) in history, would be permitted to serve out the remainder of his latest term until 2018.

But as more women come forth with stories of Conyers’ behavior, there are more calls in and out of Congress for the veteran lawmaker to resign from his 13th District.

“Whatever Conyers’ legacy will eventually be,” editorialized the Detroit Free Press late Tuesday night, “his tenure as a member of Congress must end — now.”

Since his election to the senate in 2016 at age 28, Ian Conyers has been focused on as the heir apparent to his uncle. A graduate of Georgetown University and field director of Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, the younger Conyers is considered a leader in the new generation of post-civil rights era black politicians.

“Ian has about as much in common with his Uncle John,” one wag put it, “as Barack Obama does with [Detroit’s late, high-living, foul-mouthed Mayor] Coleman Young.”

But given the scandal now enveloping the elder Conyers and what many perceives as distaste for a “dynastic succession” among voters, there are serious questions mounting about the inevitably of Ian Conyers going to Congress.

“If [John Conyers] is forced out and there’s a special election, his nephew Ian would be a favorite to succeed him,” Bill Ballenger, editor of the Ballenger Report blog on Michigan politics. “But he won’t get it without a fight. There could be a busload of Democrats vying for the seat.”

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.