Special Election to Replace Al Wynn

The Post is reporting that there will be a special election to fill the seat that will be vacated when Rep. Al Wynn steps down in a couple of months.

To save money, there will be only a general election, without a primary. This will require the passage of a law to allow a primariless congressional election - a statute that will have to be introduced and go through the entire legisltive process between now and midnight Monday, when the 2008 session of the General Assembly ends.

Should Donna Edwards win the special election and then subsequent November election, she will have higher seniority next year than other freshmen representatives in the House.

While this is an unusual situation, I think it can serve as a precedent for filling state legislative vacancies. One of the arguments made against midterm elections to fill vacancies in the General Assembly is that the primary would be held early in the election year, while the General Assembly is in session and the appointed replacement (who would presumably be running in the midterm election) would be both too busy to campaign and prohibited by law from fundraising.

While the current situation is not identical, it does create a precedent for bypassing the primary to fill a legislative vacancy.