If McConnell leaves office early, who picks the nominees in a special Senate election?
Ever since news broke that 6th District Congressman Andy Barr plans to run for the U.S. Senate should Kentucky’s longtime senior senator Mitch McConnell not run for reelection in 2026, Kentucky politics have been set aflame with questions.
Who else might vie to replace McConnell? When would the 82-year-old make his decision about running? If Barr leaves, who would run for his seat in 2026? How would it work if McConnell had to step down?
That final question was answered by a change to the U.S. Senate vacancy law passed by the state legislature last year.
A bill backed by the GOP-dominated legislature moved the process of replacing a senator who resigns or vacates the office from a gubernatorial appointment to a special election.
Republicans had already changed the law in 2021, compelling the governor to pick from a list of people of the same party as the sitting senator. In 2024, after questions were raised about the governor’s willingness to comply with the law, the General Assembly made the change to a special election.
How the nominees who would appear on a hypothetical special election ballot get decided has not yet been publicized.
A review of the rules for both the Republican Party of Kentucky and the Kentucky Democratic Party shows that party insiders would be the ones to select a nominee should a vacancy occur.
The Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Kentucky, a 54-person group including members from all six of the state’s congressional districts, would be the ones to select the GOP nominee, according to a copy of the Republican Party of Kentucky’s rules adopted January of this year.
That group is comprised largely of longtime party insiders: operatives, lobbyists, former lawmakers and local activists.
For the Democrats, the decision would be in the hands of a similar group of people with close ties to the party. The State Central Executive Committee, chaired by the Kentucky Democratic Party Chair — a position currently held by Colmon Elridge — has 56 voting members across the state.
Its ranks are, like the GOP’s executive committee, filled with people who have strong ties to the party.
McConnell has not made an announcement on his 2026 plans and has said previously that he intends to serve out his full term.
Gov. Andy Beshear, who under the previous law was involved in picking a replacement, has not said if he will challenge the law or let it play out as written if it kicks into effect.
The law states that when a vacancy occurs a proclamation to hold an election “shall be issued and signed by the governor and shall be directed to the proper sheriffs” 56 days before the election. A party’s nominees would then be filed and certified by the Secretary of State 49 days before the election.
