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What happens to Amy Klobuchar’s Senate seat if she is elected governor?
By Ryan Faircloth, Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — If Sen. Amy Klobuchar is elected Minnesota’s next governor, what would happen to her Senate seat?
The question of who could replace Klobuchar in the Senate has been a frequent topic of conversation among Democrats during the campaign.
Klobuchar would have to resign from Congress — but not immediately. In fact, the timing of her resignation could affect whether Gov. Tim Walz or Klobuchar herself appoints her successor in the Senate.
In a brief interview earlier this month, Klobuchar said she would not decide whether to make the appointment herself until after the election.
“I first have to earn the trust of the people of Minnesota to have this job,” Klobuchar said. “And then I will look at that.”
When a U.S. senator resigns in Minnesota, the governor can appoint a temporary replacement until a special election is held, usually in the next major election year.
This scenario played out in December 2017, when former U.S. Sen. Al Franken announced his resignation amid a flurry of sexual harassment complaints. Then-Gov. Mark Dayton appointed his lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to fill Franken’s seat. Smith ran in a special election the following year and won.
If Klobuchar wins, whoever replaces her would similarly have to win a special election to serve out the remainder of her Senate term, which ends in January 2031.
Walz could possibly make the appointment if Klobuchar were to resign immediately after the election. But a spokesman for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office said the law allows Walz to decline to fill the vacancy and leave the appointment to Klobuchar.
Klobuchar could also wait until just before she took the oath as governor to vacate her Senate seat, giving herself the power to pick her successor.
The Senate appointment could become the first major act of a Klobuchar governorship.
Some Democrats have called for Klobuchar to be transparent about who she would appoint to the seat before the November election.
Political observers have floated several prominent Democrats as possible contenders, including Secretary of State Steve Simon, U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.
(Christopher Vondracek of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.)
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