NC’s governor is a Democrat and I think that they will have to run another election to replace him in any case. That makes two districts from NC that don’t have a House rep now.
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I’m curious whether there’s any state where a governor would appoint a replacement to a US House seat. My impression is that for the House it’s always either a matter of a special election or an appointment controlled by the incumbent’s party. That’s how I believe it is in NC—the district party selects a replacement until a special election can be held, or, if it’s close enough to an election, until then.
ETA: Freedom fries notwithstanding, Jones clearly had a change of heart—not so much about his ideology but about the relationship between his ideology and his party affiliation. I don’t think he would have supported the Iraq War without a strong loyalty to the Republican Party; after it became clear how badly the Bush administration deceived the country, Jones chose to be guided by his convictions instead of his loyalty. This puts him in contrast to pretty much every other Republican in Congress, but it doesn’t make him any more likely to be on the right side of an issue.
Constitution requires House vacancies be filled by election.
I’m not asking for admission of guilt matt. What I’m saying is that Rep. Jones went blindly and willingly along with the lies presented to him by one GOP administration out of partisan fealty. He participated in the slander of one of our staunchest allies for the sake of ingratiating himself to that administration. He saw the light after the dead and wounded from the 82nd Airborne came back to Fort Bragg. That he so willingly participated in the lies of one GOP administration while now voting against the following GOP administration’s lies does nothing to mitigate his lack of effort to understand the war those kids were being lied into. This is his legacy, not that he now sees how fucked up the dotard admin is. Just as surely as casting the fifth vote to stop the counting of the votes in Florida will be Sandra Day O’Connor’s legacy so too will the blind obeisance to the Bush administration at such a critical time be Walter Jones. The invasion of Iraq is at the top of the list of the most destructive foreign policy mistakes this country ever made and at the time when it was imperative that he think as an individual and question what he most assuredly knew were lies he chose to become a part of that monstrous regime instead. Got turned onto an obscure GOP Representative from Texas named Ron Paul at that time because he was such and outspoken critic of Bush’s rush to war. If he knew the truth then so did Jones. I participated in the slaughter that was Viet Nam and didn’t expect to see it repeated due to lies again in my lifetime but our politicians not only allowed it but encouraged it to happen. No rehabilitation of Bush Jr. and no forgiving people who could have made a difference but chose party over country when it mattered most.
If you don’t want to give the man any credit for admitting that the decision was wrong that’s your prerogative. I see evidence that he isn’t the worst of the worst by a long shot. It’s not my place to forgive, because I wasn’t among the victims. But if more Republicans would be as honest with themselves and others as this man seems to have tried to be, we’d be a lot better off. Just saying. So we disagree.