How are vacant offices filled?

#House seats: an election, every time

The Constitution says the state’s “Executive Authority” must issue writs of election when a House seat is vacant. It has no provision for appointing an interim representative. Governors typically order the election, and state law sets the calendar. In the 118th Congress, CRS found that these elections came 120 days after the vacancy, on average.

Federal law adds one exception to state control. If the Speaker announces that vacancies exceed 100, the election must take place within 49 days, unless another election for the seat is already due within 75 days.

#Senate seats: an election, with an optional bridge

The Seventeenth Amendment also calls for an election, but it lets a state legislature empower the governor to make a temporary appointment until voters decide. States use that choice differently. As of July 29, 2026, NCSL reported:

• 35 states: fill the seat at the next regularly scheduled general election, and the governor may appoint someone in the meantime. Eleven require the appointee to share the former senator’s party.
• 15 states: hold a separate, expedited special election. Most allow an interim appointment.
• Kentucky, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Wisconsin: among those 15, they bar an appointment, so the seat stays empty until the election.
• Connecticut, Louisiana and Texas: also among those 15, they allow an appointment only temporarily and under certain conditions.

#A worked example: a 1922 Senate seat

In September 1922, a Georgia senator died in office, leaving a vacancy to be filled by the governor until a special election. On October 3, the governor appointed Rebecca Latimer Felton, age 87. Voters chose a successor on November 7. At her request, the senator-elect delayed presenting his credentials. She took the oath on November 21 and gave up the seat on November 22, serving 24 hours as the first woman in the Senate.

That short term shows how the appointment works: it runs only until the people fill the seat. The Senate’s own list of appointed senators since 1913 records each appointment and whether the appointee later won election.

#How long a seat can stay empty

With timing left to the states, a vacancy can last a long time. One congressional district was empty for about 15 months after its representative died on August 13, 1969. The election was set only after a court ordered the governor to act, and it was held on November 3, 1970, the same day as the general election. During a House vacancy the office does not close: the Clerk of the House supervises the staff and manages the office until a successor is elected.

#State legislatures and other offices

States write their own rules for their own legislatures, and they split about evenly. As of September 23, 2026, 25 states and DC used special elections and 22 used appointments, made by the former legislator’s party, local officials, the governor or the legislature. Colorado, Indiana and Tennessee use a mix.

The vice presidency follows a different path. Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the president nominates a replacement, who takes office after a majority vote of both houses of Congress.