Current state law allows the governor to appoint a successor if a Senate seat becomes vacant. But under a proposal to be introduced by state Rep. Roscoe Streyle (R), any vacancies would be filled by a special election to be held 60 days after a vacancy is declared.
Streyle told Rob Port, a conservative blogger and fellow at the North Dakota Policy Council, that he will introduce the proposal when the session begins next year.
The proposal is overtly political: If Heitkamp doesn’t have the power to appoint a fellow Democrat, who would then have the advantage of incumbency, Democrats would have a difficult time keeping her seat in a deep-red state.
North Dakota political operatives take the notion of a Heitkamp-for-governor bid seriously. She ran for the state’s top office in 2000, when she lost to John Hoeven — now her seatmate in the Senate — by 10 points.
Heitkamp hasn’t said much about the race. “Sen. Heitkamp is focused on her work to fight for North Dakotans in the U.S. Senate,” said Abigail McDonough, Heitkamp’s Senate spokeswoman.
If Heitkamp does run, there’s no guarantee that she would win. Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R), who took 63 percent of the vote in 2012, is eligible to seek another term.
North Dakota isn’t the only state in which lawmakers are considering changing election laws to help their own parties. Indiana state Sen. Mike Delph (R) has submitted legislation that would allow a sitting state officeholder to run for reelection and a federal office at the same time.
Delph admitted to the Indianapolis Star that his bill would help Gov. Mike Pence (R), who is considering a run for president. Indiana elects its governors in the same year as presidential elections.
“I think it’s good for the state of Indiana to have a sitting governor in the national conversation and because of that I think it’s in our interest to make the obstacles and roadblocks for Pence as minimal as possible,” Delph told the Star.
In Kentucky, too, legislators are likely to consider a measure that would allow Sen. Rand Paul (R) to run for both reelection and president. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) has said that current state law wouldn’t allow Paul to be on the ballot twice, though the Republican-controlled state Senate is likely to try to change that.
Democrats control the state House in Kentucky, however, posing a roadblock to Paul’s dual hopes.