Republican legislators in Kentucky are working to ensure Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) is stripped of his power to fill a Senate vacancy amid Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) decision to step down from his post as the upper chamber’s GOP leader.
The state House Elections, Constitutional Amendments, and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee voted on Thursday to advance HB 622, which would only permit the governor to call for a special election to fill a Senate vacancy as is done with the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation is being led by state House GOP Leader Steven Rudy, who denies the effort is a response to McConnell stepping down from leadership.
The outgoing Senate GOP leader, 82, says that he intends to finish his term, which ends in January 2027.
“I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, however,” McConnell said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “I will complete the job my colleagues have given me until we select a new leader in November and they take the helm next January. I will finish the job the people of Kentucky hired me to do as well — albeit from a different seat in the chamber. I am looking forward to that.”
This has not, however, quelled discussions about his political future and what it would mean if he were to resign early.
With McConnell’s support and a supermajority in the state legislature, Kentucky Republicans passed a bill in 2021 requiring the governor to choose between three candidates put forward by the party of the outgoing senator if they were to create a vacancy before their term is up.
Beshear was overruled after vetoing the legislation and has refused to commit to following it in the event of an unexpected retirement, arguing the law “improperly and unconstitutionally” restricted his power to fill vacancies. His opposition to the law appears to be part of what prompted the effort to strip him of his authority to fill a Senate vacancy.
McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader of all time, announced on Wednesday that this Congress would be his last as head of the GOP conference. The outgoing leader faced nearly a year of speculation about his plans beyond the 118th Congress, the result of his sour relationship with former President Donald Trump and a pair of highly publicized medical episodes that prompted concerns about his health.
The top Senate Republican froze in front of the cameras last August after appearing to lose concentration. Asked by a reporter about his 2026 election plans, McConnell stared off into the distance, unable to speak for about 30 seconds until aides rushed to his side.
That incident came one month after a similar episode in which McConnell froze mid-sentence while speaking to reporters and looked ahead with an apparent blank stare for 18 seconds.
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McConnell sought to project complete normalcy and dispel any notions that he was not up to the job in the weeks and months that followed. His office released a letter upon his return from August recess from Dr. Brian Monahan, the Capitol’s attending physician, that cleared him for work.
McConnell is revered as a shrewd political operator and is famous for his lack of candor with the press. The GOP leader has been notoriously careful about how he presents himself to the media and the larger public, aware that showing signs of vulnerability could lead to questions about his power.
