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Craig Thomas is dead
Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY) died Monday. It was not unexpected, but it does open up some interesting possibilities.
Well, no it doesn't.
In most states, the governor gets to choose a new Senator who serves until the next election. Since Wyoming has a Democratic governor, this would result in Democrats picking up a seat in the Senate.
Except ... under Wyoming law, since Thomas was a Republican, the Republicans get to put together a list of three candidates, from which the governor has to choose one.
Oh well.
http://dailygotham.com/blog/dan_jacoby/craig_thomas_is_dead
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Future of Thomas' Seat
Just to let you know, according to Wyoming state law, the governor will select a replacement from a list of three possibilities selected by Thomas' party, i.e. the Republicans. (Blog P.I. has an excerpt of the law: http://www.blogpi.net/rip-craig-thomas-r-wy)
I'm not sure if South Dakota has the same sort of law or not.
Wish it was true, but...wrong
Sorry, Dan, but I think you need to check the facts on this. I read last night that the Governor would appoint a replacement among three nominees submitted by the Wyoming Republican Party. It seems that Wyoming is one of those states (I don't know how many there are) that requires the Governor to appoint replacements of the same party as the one he's replacing. Most states aren't like that, but there are some who have such laws.
So we don't get the seat just yet. Maybe we'll have a shot at it in the special election next year.
Future of Thomas' Seat
I commented about this yesterday, so I'm not sure why it didn't go through. But just to let you know, Thomas' seat will not be changing parties. Wyoming state law says that Gov. Freudenthal will select a replacement from a list of three choices provided by Sen. Thomas' party, which would be the Republicans.
Blog P.I. has an actual excerpt of the law.
WY 08 - "double whammy"
Dan,
interesting thought, and while everyone is right that the replacement must be a Republican, WY state law also mandates that a special election be held concurrently with the next general election. So there would be two senators running from WY. Fishwax at DemocraticUnderground opined...