AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House of Representatives gave initial passage Tuesday to a Republican’s bill that would limit a governor’s options with filling U.S. Senate vacancies.
Similar debates have arisen during previous legislative sessions. The measure from Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland, looks more to the future rather than immediately affecting decisions likely to be made by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is termed out of office next year.
It still has relevance given the ages of the state’s members of the upper chamber in Congress who serve six-year terms. U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is 81 and won a third term last November, while U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is 72 and seeking her sixth term next year.
Boyer proposed a similar measure that came up for votes in 2023, with the House narrowly passing it before Senate Democrats defeated it that year. Members from across the political spectrum, such as Rep. Sophie Warren, D-Scarborough, Sen. David Haggan, R-Hampden, and Rep. Sharon Frost, I-Belgrade, are cosponsoring this year’s proposal.
It would require Maine’s governor to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy by appointing someone who is in the same party as the person they replace. In cases involving King and other independents, the bill says if the senator who vacated the office was not enrolled in a party at the time of their last election, then the replacement must also not be enrolled in a party.
The House passed the bill Tuesday after a motion from Rep. Sue Salisbury, D-Westbrook, to defeat it fell in a 90-56 vote. More than a dozen Democrats, such as Reps. Jan Dodge of Belfast and Ed Crockett of Portland, joined with Republicans to support it. The measure now goes to the Senate and needs additional votes in each chamber.
The Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee had recommended passage of the bill in an 8-5 vote, with Sen. Pinny Beebe-Center of Rockland and Rep. Ann Matlack of St. George the lone Democrats on the committee to join Republican members in backing it.
Various states have a patchwork of different laws regarding appointments for vacant seats in Congress. The appointments are relatively rare. Maine’s last one was in 1980, when former Gov. Joseph Brennan picked Democrat George Mitchell to fill the seat of U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, who became secretary of state under former President Jimmy Carter.
Tuesday’s debate was brief, with no members delivering speeches against it. Rep. Will Tuell, R-East Machias, rose to speak in favor of the measure by saying he believes it ensures fairness and removes political pressures on governors of any party. He also referred to Collins and King in a nod to how the measure could suddenly become relevant given their ages.
“They aren’t exactly spring chickens,” Tuell said.