the governor called a special election to fill a vacancy in the senate in the phillipines.
the governor called a special election to fill a vacancy in the senate in the phillipines.
who calls a special election to fill a vacancy in the senate in the phillipines?
governor
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in august 2009, senator ted kennedy died, leaving a vacancy in the massachusetts senate delegation. five years earlier in 2004, the massachusetts general court had withdrawn the authority of the governor to fill a u.s. senate vacancy by appointment, to prevent the then-governor mitt romney, a republican, from appointing a fellow republican to fill the remainder of democrat john kerry's senate term, if kerry were to win the 2004 presidential election. the legislation was enacted over romney's veto. at that time, senator ted kennedy successfully made personal appeals to massachusetts democratic legislative leaders to pass the bill, which had been stalled prior to his request. the new law called for a special election months later to fill the vacancy. however, kennedy's death denied democrats in the u.s. senate the 60‑vote supermajority required to end filibusters. given the urgency of and narrow partisan support for some legislation before congress, most notably health care reform, democratic lawmakers and liberal pundits called for an interim senator to be appointed so that massachusetts would have full senate representation until the special election; kennedy himself had requested such a change before he died. in september, the general court passed legislation restoring the governor's power to make interim appointments to serve until the special election stipulated in the earlier legislation is held, over multiple bipartisan concerns of hypocrisy. kennedy's two sons, patrick j. kennedy and edward kennedy jr.; and his wife, victoria reggie kennedy, had all expressed their preference for kirk. on september 23, 2009, several national media organizations reported that kirk was favored by the family of the late senator edward m. kennedy to be the senator's interim replacement, and that the family had communicated their preference to governor deval patrick. governor patrick announced kirk's appointment the next day. kirk pledged he would not be a candidate in the special election, which was won by republican scott brown. kirk was sworn into office on september 25, 2009.
paul g. kirk