How replacing senator would work

If McCain were to die in office, Gov. Doug Ducey would appoint his replacement.

It would be up to Gov. Doug Ducey to appoint the replacement for Sen. John McCain if McCain were to resign from the Senate or die in office.

On Friday, the McCain family said the senator is ending medical treatment for glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer.

Arizona’s Republican governor has few limitations on his choice, according to state law. The replacement would have to be a Republican, as McCain is, and would serve in the U.S. Senate until voters elected a new senator in the next general election.

Although there is a general election on Nov. 6, McCain’s successor would serve at least until the following general election in 2020. The winner of that election would serve the rest of McCain’s six-year term, which ends after the 2022 election, in January 2023.

McCain’s death, for the first time in Arizona’s 106-year history, would require that a Senate seat be filled through gubernatorial appointment.

Sen. Jeff Flake’s seat is at its six-year limit in 2018, and Flake chose not to seek re-election.

In July 2017, when McCain announced his brain-cancer diagnosis, Ducey repeatedly ruled out appointing himself. Speculation has swirled ever since over whom he would tap, and whether the pick would be a placeholder who would not seek to run for a full term, or someone who would intend to defend the seat in the next general election.

If Ducey were to tap one of Arizona’s congressional members, the election schedule would get even busier. That’s because a vacancy in the House must be filled by a special election and cannot wait until the regular 2020 primary and general elections.

“The really interesting scenario would be if the governor appointed a sitting congressman,” said Eric Spencer, the state elections director.

That would trigger a special primary and general election to fill the vacancy in the House of Representatives, Spencer said.

McCain’s death, for the first time in Arizona’s 106-year history, would require that a Senate seat be filled through gubernatorial appointment.

AFP/GETTY IMAGES A plaque identifies Arizona Sen. John McCain’s office on Capitol Hill in Washington. Speculation continues to swirl over whom Gov. Doug Ducey would appoint to McCain’s Senate seat in the event that McCain resigns or dies in office. The Republican governor has few limitations on his choice, but the replacement would have to be a Republican, as McCain is, and would serve in the Senate until at least the general election in 2020.