Politics

Meet Sen. Byrd's Replacement

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

The Associated Press is reporting that West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin will appoint his former chief legal counsel, Carte Goodwin [D], to fill the seat of the late Sen. Robert Byrd [D, WV] for the rest of this session. Manchin is scheduled to make an official announcement on the appointment later this afternoon.

Goodwin will be sworn in to the Senate on Tuesday at 2:15 ET. Immediately after he is sworn in, the Senate will vote on the stalled unemployment extension bill, and Goodwin is expected to give the Democrats the 60th vote they need to break a Republican-led filibuster and get the bill signed into law. While there is no specific information on Goodwin’s position on the unemployment bill, the fact that he is a Democrat (95%+ of Dems support the UI extension) and the fact that Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] has scheduled a vote on the bill to take place minutes after he is sworn in suggest that he will vote in the affirmative.

See Memeorandum for commentary on the pick.

Full post as published by Open Congress on July 17, 2010 (boomark / email).