FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky Republicans want to change the process for picking a replacement U.S. senator in case one steps down.

Senate Bill 228 would require the governor to pick an interim U.S. senator from a list of three candidates provided by leaders of the outgoing senator’s political party.

“The rationale is that in the most recent election for that position, the state choose to pick the individual from that party. It should be replaced by somebody from that party,” said the bill’s sponsor, Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester).

The bill passed 28-8 and now moves to the House. Every Democrat in attendance voted against the measure.

“It seems to me that the governor, who was elected by the state, actually represents more of the people in this state than the executive committee of the party of the senator who is resigning does,” said Sen. Karen Berg (D-Louisville).

Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey (D-Louisville) says he likes the idea of the bill— but doesn’t like the timing.

“I’m open to the concept if there were two Democratic senators and a Republican governor, but I don’t think we would ever do this bill if that were the case,” McGarvey said. “I think the reason we’re doing this bill is because there are two Republican senators and a Democratic governor.”

Stivers said he would have supported this idea two years ago when a Republican was governor.

The bill comes just as U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell starts a new term at the age of 79. He told Spectrum News 1 he supports the measure, but it doesn’t mean anything in terms of his future.

“It has no implications for me,” McConnell said. “As you may have noticed, I just got reelected to a six-year term.”

The measure requires a special election to be held during the next election cycle but could create a runoff election if no candidate gets more than 50% of the original vote.

Sen. Adrienne Southworth (R-Lawrenceburg) was the only Republican to vote against the bill because of concerns she had with the cost and hassle a runoff election would create.

Gov. Andy Beshear opposes the bill and will likely veto it if it reaches his desk.

“Whether or not we change the way that a vacancy is filled shouldn’t be decided based on who’s currently in the office. Once that happens, we start breaking the very institutions that our state and country rely upon,” Beshear said in a statement. “We’ve got to believe in the institution of government and in the separation of powers more than we believe in our party.”

A separate bill, House Bill 400, would also change how Kentucky picks a replacement U.S. senator. The difference is that bill would just create a special election for the open seat. It passed out of a House committee last week.