Klobuchar and Blackburn won governorships, leaving two Senate seats for governors to fill, possibly their own
Klobuchar and Blackburn won governorships, so governors will name their Senate successors. Minnesota votes again in November 2027, Tennessee in 2028. Who picks depends on when each resigns, and in Tennessee a dual-office dispute is brewing.
Two sitting senators won governorships on Tuesday, and each will leave a Senate seat that a governor, not the voters, will fill. In Minnesota, Democrat Amy Klobuchar$ defeated Republican Lisa Demuth; the Associated Press called the race late Tuesday, per its report. In Tennessee, Republican Marsha Blackburn$ defeated Democrat Jerri Green and independent David Hatley; the AP called it at 12:43 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, per the AP via CKOM. Both are the first women elected governor of their states.
The appointments will not change the Senate's partisan balance, because a Democratic governor will fill Klobuchar's seat and a Republican governor will fill Blackburn's. They matter for other reasons. Each governor-elect could, in principle, appoint her own successor. The two states run on different clocks for the special elections that follow. And in Tennessee, a dispute has already begun over whether Blackburn can lawfully stay in the Senate until she takes the oath as governor. This story sets out the law, the calendar, the names being floated and by whom, and the arguments on each side. Polling on who should get the Tennessee seat exists but has limits, which we explain; no Minnesota poll on the question was found.
The 17th Amendment lets a state legislature "empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct," in the text at Cornell's Legal Information Institute. Both states have done so, but they wrote different rules for what comes next.
Minnesota's statute says "the governor may make a temporary appointment to fill any vacancy," and that the appointee "shall hold office until a successor is elected and qualified at a special election." Every vacancy "shall be filled for the remainder of the term by a special election," held at the next November election if the vacancy occurs at least 11 weeks before the regular state primary, under Minnesota Statutes section 204D.28. In odd-numbered years the primary falls on the second Tuesday in August and the election on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. A vacancy in January 2027 is well over 11 weeks before August 10, 2027, so the special election would be November 2, 2027. The winner would serve the rest of Klobuchar's term, which ends in January 2031. An appointee is not automatically the party's nominee; there is a special primary, FOX 9 noted.
Tennessee's statute reads differently. "If a vacancy occurs in the office of United States senator, a successor shall be elected at the next regular November election," and if the vacancy "will deprive the state of its full representation at any time congress may be in session, the governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment until a successor is elected at the next regular November election and is qualified," under Tenn. Code Ann. section 2-16-101. Tennessee holds no odd-year statewide election, so the "next regular November election" after a January 2027 vacancy is November 2028. The appointee would serve nearly two years. The 2028 winner would serve until January 2031, and the full term would be contested again in 2030.
How the two Senate vacancies play out
The 120th Congress convenes; both senators still hold their seats unless they have resigned
Klobuchar is sworn in as Minnesota governor; her Senate seat is vacant from the moment she resigns
Blackburn is sworn in as Tennessee governor under the first-Saturday-after-January-14 rule
Minnesota special primary for the Senate seat
Minnesota special election; winner serves to January 2031
Tennessee general election fills the seat; winner serves to January 2031
In both states the answer turns on timing, and neither senator has said what she will do.
In Minnesota, Klobuchar takes office on January 4, 2027. If she resigns from the Senate before that date, Gov. Tim Walz makes the appointment. If she resigns on or after it, she appoints her own successor as governor. "Which governor makes the appointment depends on when Klobuchar resigns," MPR News reported, adding that she could "resign right before she is sworn in," which would make the appointment one of her first acts. Walz could also decline to act and leave the seat empty until she takes office, FOX 9 noted. Klobuchar's campaign declined to share appointment plans during the race, the Pioneer Press reported in August. Walz has ruled himself out. Asked in February whether he would want the seat, he said, "I'd rather eat glass than do that," as FOX 9 recorded.
In Tennessee, Blackburn told the Nashville Banner in August that she intended to stay in the Senate until she is sworn in as governor, so that she rather than Gov. Bill Lee would make the appointment, and that naming prospects would be "inappropriate," as Political Wire summarized the Banner's report. On election night she said conversations about the seat would come after she is sworn in, which she called "the proper time," FOX 17 reported. Lee has said he will not weigh in: "We'll take governors one at a time, and I don't give advice to the next governor," the Tennessee Lookout reported.
That plan has drawn a legal objection. Tennessee's constitution bars holding a state office and a federal office at the same time, and some commentators argue that a senator cannot be sworn in as governor without first resigning, which would hand the appointment to Lee. Steve Gill, writing in the TriStar Daily, cited Article II, Section 26 and Article III, Section 13 of the state constitution and argued the appointee would rank last in Senate seniority, in an August column. FOX 17's Scott Couch wrote that "if Blackburn does wait and appoints her own successor, she's breaking the law," while conceding that "will she be charged with a crime? Almost certainly not," in a commentary. Those are the writers' readings of the constitution, not rulings. The Lookout noted that "no official has held both offices at once" in Tennessee, so there is no precedent to test the theory. The practical answer may be sequencing: a resignation effective at the moment of the oath would avoid overlap. Whether anyone sues, and whether a court would hear it, is unknown.
Seniority is a real cost either way. The new Congress convenes on January 3, 2027. A senator sworn in after that date ranks behind the entire incoming class. "From a seniority point, everything in Washington, D.C. depends on it," the Lookout quoted Jim Hall, a former Blackburn adviser, as saying. Waiting until mid-January "could complicate the new senator's committee assignments," the Lookout reported.
The names being floated
No shortlist exists in either state. The names below come from reporters and analysts, or from people who have said they want the job. We label each.
In Minnesota, MPR named former Rep. Angie Craig, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to Peggy Flanagan this year, along with Rep. Kelly Morrison, Secretary of State Steve Simon and unnamed "big-city mayors," in its November 3 explainer. The Minnesota Reformer also named Simon and Morrison, as republished by the Mesabi Tribune. None has publicly sought the seat. Carleton College's Steven Schier told the Pioneer Press that Craig would be a weak choice after losing the primary by about 20 points, and that "if you're appointed by Walz, you have a more problematic political future." Eric Ostermeier of the University of Minnesota told the same paper that "there's a rich history of 'self-appointed' U.S. senators losing the next time they're actually on the ballot."$$
In Tennessee, the field is more open about its ambitions. Rep. Tim Burchett said "I would be honored to represent Tennessee in the United States Senate," per FOX 17, and told Punchbowl News he would "absolutely" run in 2028 if passed over, in an October 29 report. His campaign manager said it "would be unethical and illegal for the Congressman to discuss his interest in the seat with the Senator," FOX 17 reported. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann said "I will be honored to have that" and "I think I bring a unique skill set to the job," the Lookout reported. Fleischmann also floated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying that "as a Tennessean, he might be interested" should he leave the Pentagon; that is Fleischmann's speculation, and Hegseth has not commented. Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, who was Blackburn's campaign treasurer, and former CoreCivic chief executive Damon Hininger have each said they want the seat, Punchbowl reported. Rep. Andy Ogles said in 2025 he was "absolutely" interested, according to a Fox News reporter's post we could not open. An appointment of Burchett would trigger a special election for his House seat, the University of Tennessee's Andy Busch told WVLT, in an October 30 report.$$$
What the precedents show
Governors appointing their own successors is rare but not unheard of. The Senate Historical Office's list of appointed senators, on senate.gov, includes three modern cases of a senator elected governor who then filled the seat he left.
The Alaska case is the one that changed the law. After Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter, voters passed Measure 4 in November 2004 by 55.6 percent to 44.4 percent, stripping the governor of the power to make temporary appointments, per Ballotpedia. Tennessee has its own precedent for the appointee serving to the next general election: Gov. Ned McWherter appointed Harlan Mathews in January 1993 after Al Gore became vice president, and Mathews served until the November 1994 election without seeking it, the Lookout noted. Minnesota's most recent appointment was Tina Smith, named by Gov. Mark Dayton in January 2018 and elected to the seat that November. Minnesota also remembers 1976, when Gov. Wendell Anderson resigned so that his successor could appoint him to the Senate; he lost in 1978. Ostermeier's count, per the Pioneer Press, is that of nine governors who arranged their own appointment in the direct-election era, "all but one were subsequently defeated."$
The arguments
Supporters of letting the governor-elect choose argue that the voters just elected her statewide and that she, not an outgoing governor, carries the fresh mandate. Schier made the Minnesota version of that case to the Pioneer Press: "in terms of the standing of the party and its future state politics, it would have to be Klobuchar." Blackburn's stated reasoning is the same in substance, and in Tennessee it has the added effect of keeping the choice with a governor of her own party.
Critics make two different objections. One is about transparency. Mike Norton, a Minneapolis commentator, wrote in the Minnesota Reformer in August that "there are very few instances in the modern era of a sitting U.S. senator running for governor and being in a position to appoint their own successor," and that "Klobuchar owes it to voters to tell us ahead of time whom she plans to appoint," in a column. She did not do so. The other objection is to appointment itself. FairVote has long argued for "requiring quick special elections for all Senate vacancies," calling laws that let governors fill seats "antidemocratic and anachronistic," in a 2009 statement. Common Cause told the Senate Judiciary Committee that year that "setting a special election within three or four months is reasonable," in testimony by Bob Edgar. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California Republican, introduced a constitutional amendment in 2023 to require elections for all vacancies, calling gubernatorial appointments "a vestige of a bygone era," per his office. Those proposals span the spectrum, but none has advanced, and neither Minnesota nor Tennessee has a pending bill to change its statute that we could find.
A third view, held by those who favor Lee making the Tennessee pick, rests on the state constitution's bar on dual office-holding and on seniority rather than on democratic theory. Its holders are mostly commentators so far; no candidate or party official has publicly asked Blackburn to resign early.
What polling shows, and what it cannot
The only survey we found on either appointment was commissioned in Tennessee. Spry Strategies polled 900 likely Republican general-election voters in late summer and asked whom Blackburn should appoint. About 32 percent named Burchett, 10 percent Glenn Jacobs, and 11 percent were split among Fleischmann, Hininger, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Stuart McWhorter; about 47 percent were unsure or declined, Tennessee Conservative News reported. The Chattanooga Times Free Press, which editorialized for Burchett on the strength of the poll, described the sample as "mostly conservative voters," in a September editorial.
Spry Strategies, 900 likely GOP voters, Tennessee, late summer 2026
Share
Tim Burchett
32%
Glenn Jacobs
10%
Fleischmann, Hininger, Sexton, McWhorter combined
11%
Unsure or refused
47%
Source: Tennessee Conservative News, citing Spry Strategies. Field dates, sponsor, method and exact wording were not published in the sources we could open.
That poll has limits. It sampled only Republican voters, its field dates and sponsor were not disclosed in the reports we read, and nearly half of respondents had no opinion. It says something about name recognition among Republicans; it does not measure what Tennesseans as a whole want. A separate UpOne Insights survey released Tuesday found Hegseth viewed favorably by 72 percent of Tennesseans, the Washington Examiner reported, but no sample size or dates were given, and favorability is not a preference for appointment. We found no poll of Minnesotans on Klobuchar's choice and no recent national survey on appointment versus special election. The one time voters have decided the question directly was Alaska's 2004 measure, described above.
Where the results stand
Both races were called on partial counts. In Minnesota, the Pioneer Press reported Klobuchar at 56 percent to Demuth's 42 percent with about 70 percent of precincts in, and said Demuth called to concede, in its election-night report. The state canvassing board certifies on November 19. Flanagan won the state's other Senate seat, the one Tina Smith is leaving, over Michele Tafoya; our pre-election report on the Minnesota races covers the polling, and the Minnesota governor race page tracks the contest.
In Tennessee, WSMV's count had Blackburn at 954,750 votes (45.7 percent), Green at 895,412 (42.8 percent) and Hatley at 194,870 (9.3 percent) late Tuesday, per its report. Hatley, a conservative independent who was barred from the Republican ballot because of a 1998 felony conviction and self-funded more than $12 million, the Washington Examiner reported, drew more votes than the margin between the two major candidates. Whether his voters would otherwise have backed Blackburn cannot be established from the returns. Blackburn declared victory before any outlet called the race, saying "you want a governor who's going to make certain that we in Tennessee have secure elections," the Nashville Post reported. The Tennessee governor race page carries the contest's history.
The Senate the appointees will join is Democratic. Our report on the Senate majority covers the flips; Alaska and Mississippi remained uncalled on Wednesday morning. Klobuchar's and Blackburn's wins were two of the governorships that shifted the national map, covered in our report on the four Democratic flips; Tennessee stayed Republican.
What people are saying online
Our usual method is to sample threads on X and Reddit directly. During this run, Reddit's listings were not reachable from our research desk, and our tool for opening individual X posts failed on every attempt. We could not verify any post's wording at its permalink, so we quote none and report no engagement figures. The posts surfaced by search were mostly from reporters relaying candidates' interest, such as a Scripps reporter's August 2025 post that Burchett was "open to being appointed," rather than from ordinary Minnesotans or Tennesseans. We found no post we could attribute to a credibly self-identified resident of either state, which is a gap in this story rather than evidence of silence.
What remains unknown
Whether Klobuchar resigns before or after January 4, and so whether Walz or Klobuchar appoints. Whether Blackburn follows through on serving until January 16, whether anyone challenges that in court, and what Lee does if she resigns early. Who either governor names. Whether the Minnesota appointee runs in the 2027 special, and whether the Tennessee appointee runs in 2028. And the certified margins, which the Minnesota canvassing board will set on November 19 and Tennessee will set when its counties certify.
Differing perspectives
Who should fill the Senate seats Klobuchar and Blackburn are leaving, and how should the choice be made?
Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.
Appoint a candidate with a proven statewide base
Who holds it: Rep. Tim Burchett and his supporters, and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, who have each said they want the Tennessee seat
Those seeking the appointment argue that the governor should pick someone who can hold the seat at the next election, not a placeholder. Burchett points to a grassroots network built across more than 60 counties while campaigning alongside Blackburn and says he will run in 2028 whether or not he is appointed. Fleischmann says his years as a senior House appropriator give him a skill set the state needs in the Senate. Both frame the choice as a question of who can serve Tennessee and win.
Let the newly elected governor name her own successor
Who holds it: Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn, who has said she will stay in the Senate until sworn in, and analysts such as Carleton College's Steven Schier on the Minnesota side
Supporters argue that the voters just elected the governor-elect statewide, so she carries the fresh mandate and should make the choice rather than an outgoing governor. They say the senator knows the job and the state's needs better than anyone, and that in party terms the pick should belong to the leader voters chose. Blackburn has said naming prospects before she is sworn in would be inappropriate, and that the proper time for those conversations comes after the inauguration.
Replace appointments with prompt special elections
Who holds it: FairVote, Common Cause and Rep. Kevin Kiley, who has proposed a constitutional amendment
Reform advocates argue that no one should sit in the Senate for up to two years without facing voters, and that laws letting governors fill seats are a leftover from the era before senators were directly elected. They point to Alaska, where voters stripped the governor of the appointment power in 2004 after a senator-turned-governor appointed his daughter. They say a special election within a few months is workable, as several states already require, and that the appointee's party is beside the point.
Tell voters the pick before the election, or let the sitting governor decide
Who holds it: Minnesota Reformer columnist Mike Norton and Tennessee commentators who argue the state constitution bars holding both offices
These critics argue that a senator who runs for governor while planning to appoint her own replacement owes voters the name in advance, because the choice is in effect on the ballot. In Tennessee they add that the state constitution forbids holding a state and a federal office at once, so a senator cannot take the governor's oath without first resigning, which would leave the appointment to the sitting governor. They also say waiting until mid-January costs the new senator seniority behind the whole incoming class.
Independent coverage and primary evidence to help you compare arguments. A link is not an endorsement; perspective labels describe the linked material.
The Spry Strategies poll of Republican voters on the appointment; a conservative outlet, and the poll's sponsor and field dates were not disclosed.
Reviewed 2026-11-04. Reviewed Nov. 4, 2026. The discovery search returned only Klobuchar biography pages and election-night stories, none of which address the appointment question, so the list was built from pages our desk opened directly. The statutes were read on revisor.mn.gov and Justia. The Nashville Banner's August interview with Blackburn, the Star Tribune's explainer, the Tennessean's poll story and the Tennessee Lookout's own site could not be opened; the Lookout piece was read through the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Our social-post tool failed, so no X post is verified. We found no Minnesota or Tennessee legislator proposing to change either vacancy statute and no statement from Klobuchar on whom she would name; both are gaps.
