FRANKFORT, Ky. — Under current Kentucky law, if one of the commonwealth’s U.S. senators leaves office before the end of their term, the governor would have the power to appoint an interim senator.

That power is still limited because the appointment would have to come from a list of three candidates provided by the outgoing senator’s political party.

When the Republican-led legislature passed the law in 2021, Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., said it was unconstitutional and improperly restricted the governor’s power to fill vacancies.  

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said then that he supported the bill, but it meant nothing about his political plans.  

“It has no implications for me,” he said in 2021. “As you may have noticed, I just got reelected to a six-year term.”

This week, Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, filed a bill that would undo the current law, cutting the governor’s appointment power completely.    

“I just feel strongly that a government for the people, by the people, the people’s branch, should be elected by the people,” he said.

Under House Bill 622, U.S. Senate vacancies would be filled by special election, just as is done for vacancies in the House.  

“I think we should handle all vacancies in legislative things as we do for the General Assembly, we do for members of Congress, the United States Senate as well,” he said.

Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., who voted against the 2021 legislation when he was a state senator, called Rudy’s bill “politically motivated and clearly unconstitutional.”

Dewey Clayton, a political science professor at the University of Louisville, said it is “just one more example of how the Legislature is exerting its influence and its power to the detriment of the executive power.”

McConnell’s health has raised concerns over the last year after he twice stopped in mid-sentence while speaking publicly. The 82-year-old has said he is fine. Rudy said his bill has nothing to do with McConnell’s health.