The stunning news Thursday that Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin would be nominated as the new secretary of Homeland Security has done nothing short of turning the politics of his native Oklahoma upside down.
Barely in his fourth year as senator (to fill out the term of the late Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe), Mullin is expected to resign his seat by March 31 and thus setting the stage for a special election within 30 days.
But Sooner State law (Title 26, Section 12-101) states that "if the vacant office is already scheduled to be filled for a full term at the next available regularly scheduled election, then no special election shall be called."
In all likelihood, the appointee to the seat by GOP Governor Kevin Stitt will serve out Mullin’s term until a successor is elected for a full six-year term.
No one is guessing at this point whom Stitt will name, except it would seem his choice will be someone who fills out the term and goes no further. According to state law, any appointee must sign an oath stating he or she will not be a candidate for the office when it next appears on the ballot.
One possibility as a stopgap senator is still revered former two-term Gov. Frank Keating.
The ban on a governor making a self-appointment and then running is traced to Democratic Gov. J. Howard Edmondson naming himself to the Senate in January 1963 — when fellow Democrat and Sen. Bob Kerr died and Edmondson had two weeks left in the Governor’s Mansion. Amid public outrage, Edmondson resoundingly lost the primary for a full term in 1966.
Among the prospects to run for the seat in the fall are Reps. Kevin Hern, Stephanie Bice, and Josh Brecheen and two statewide officials: Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell and State Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has had several public spats with Gov. Stitt and is now running for governor himself.
All are considered strong conservatives in the mold of Mullin and his predecessor Inhofe.
Gov. Stitt could legally appoint himself if he ruled out a run for the full term or could seek the full term if he did not appoint himself.
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