West Virginia Attorney General Okays 2010 Election For Byrd’s Seat

It’s now beginning to look like there will be a special election in West Virginia this year after all:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s attorney general says Gov. Joe Manchin can put the late Robert C. Byrd’s Senate seat on the ballot this November.

Manchin requested a legal opinion from Attorney General Darrell McGraw, who issued it Thursday.

Manchin says he doesn’t want voters to wait until 2012, when Byrd would have faced re-election.

(…)

Manchin may now call a special legislative session to settle details such as candidate filing and party nomination deadlines.

Manchin will appoint someone to fill the vacancy in the meantime.

This follows the announcement last week from West Virginia’s Secretary of State that the special election would not be held until 2012, an announcement which was widely criticized by both parties.

Barring something surprising, it’s likely that Manchin himself will run for the seat, as well as Republican Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito and, most likely, others.

FILED UNDER: 2010 Election, Congress, US Politics, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. James Joyner says:

    Great news for Republicans, I’d think, in that this is a much better year to be trying to pick up the seat than 2012.

  2. One would think, yes.

    Although Manchin is apparently very popular in the state and is likely to benefit from the fact that this will be a special election and there will likely be more than two candidates running.