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Golden Opportunities: Vacancies And Representation In The U.S. Senate, Timothy Lynch

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how vacancies in the United States Senate are filled. Despite the ability of states to set the institution for naming replacements, gubernatorial appointment continues to be the dominant method of selecting successors. The popularity of gubernatorial appointment - which empowers a single individual to substitute his/her judgment for the decision of the state electorate - is curious given that one goal of the Seventeenth Amendment was to democratize the selection of senators. However, appointments provide a notable benefit over elections by creating shorter vacancies. Drawing on biographies of governors and appointees, and primary-source accounts of appointments, ambition …