Kentucky’s governor cannot appoint a U.S. senator. In April 2024, the General Assembly repealed the statute that had allowed temporary gubernatorial appointments, and a Senate vacancy in Kentucky must now be filled entirely through a special election. The seat stays empty until voters choose a replacement.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 24RS HB 622
What Happens Now When a Senate Seat Opens
Under KRS 118.720, if a Kentucky Senate seat becomes vacant the governor’s only role is to sign a proclamation directing county sheriffs to hold a special election. The sheriffs publish the proclamation as required under KRS 118.750, and the candidate who wins serves out the rest of the unexpired six-year term.2Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 118.720 – Proclamation for Election to Fill Vacancy
The practical consequence is simple. No temporary senator represents Kentucky during the gap. Depending on when the vacancy occurs in the election calendar, one of the state’s two Senate seats could sit unoccupied for months. The governor has no say in who holds the seat, even on an interim basis.
The specific timing of the special election depends on how close the vacancy falls to a regularly scheduled election. Kentucky law sets different procedures for different points in the cycle, but the core rule does not change: no one fills the seat by appointment.
The 2024 Repeal of Gubernatorial Appointment Power
House Bill 622, enacted as Acts Chapter 187, repealed KRS 63.200, the statute that had governed appointments to Senate vacancies. Governor Beshear vetoed the bill on April 9, 2024. The legislature overrode the veto three days later by wide margins in both chambers, and because the bill carried an emergency clause, the repeal took effect immediately on April 12, 2024.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 24RS HB 622
Kentucky is now one of only four states where the governor cannot make any interim Senate appointment. North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin take the same approach, leaving the seat vacant until voters fill it.3National Conference of State Legislatures. Vacancies in the United States Senate
What the Old Rule Looked Like
Anyone relying on earlier guidance should know that Kentucky’s appointment process has shifted twice in recent years. Before 2021, the governor had broad discretion to appoint a replacement. In 2021, Senate Bill 228 rewrote KRS 63.200 to limit that discretion: the governor had to choose from a list of exactly three names submitted by the state executive committee of the departing senator’s political party, and the appointee had to have been continuously registered with that party since December 31 of the preceding year. The governor had 21 days from receipt of the list to name someone from it, with no option to reject the list or look outside the party.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 21 RS BR 866 – An Act Relating to a Vacancy in Congress
HB 622 eliminated that framework entirely. There is no three-name list anymore and no appointment at all.
How a State Can Refuse Appointment Authority
The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, requires state executives to issue writs of election when a Senate vacancy occurs. It also allows state legislatures to authorize temporary gubernatorial appointments to bridge the gap until an election, but that authorization is optional.5Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Seventeenth Amendment
A legislature can grant broad appointment power, grant it with restrictions, or refuse to grant it at all. Kentucky has now tried all three in a short span, and the current answer is the third one. If someone asks whether Kentucky’s governor can appoint a senator, the law no longer allows it.