Steve Thompson

There is understandably a lot of chatter nationally about Oklahoma’s process to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy. In 2021 @senatorpaxton and I passed SB959 to fix a gap in our statutes where Oklahoma was one of very few states that had no provisions for our Governor to fill a temporary vacancy. At the time, Republicans had very slim margins in the U.S. Senate and not unlike today, a vacancy has national and global ramifications. The power of Governor’s to appoint U.S. Senators in cases of vacancies is clear in the 17th Amendment which states, “When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.” The U.S. Constitution is clear. It sets the process by which candidates RUN for Senate. States set the process and requirements by which would-be candidates are APPOINTED to the Senate. Our statutes dictate that candidates must be of the same party of their predecessor for the previous five years in Oklahoma and an otherwise eligible candidate for the seat. Additionally, state law requires that in order to be eligible for a temporary appointment by a Governor, one must sign an Oath with the Oklahoma Secretary of State indicating they will not seek the office when it next appears on the ballot. This protection was implemented to insure the people, not a single person, gets to select the long-term Senator for our state. However, when it comes time to file for office, an appointed Senator could theoretically still file to run. In doing so would be breaking their public affidavit. While it was not noticed by many at the time, this is actually the second time SB959 has been used since it passed. The legislation also set up a process of “irrevocable resignation” which was utilized by the late Sen Inhofe, allowing him to retain his seat until an election could take place during our regular election cycle. I look forward to working with @SenMullin in his new role as well as Stitt’s future appointee to the Senate!