D'ur D'ur Etre Appointed...
ShareSince popular elections of U.S. Senators began in 1913, 177 individuals have been appointed to fill senatorial vacancies, but fewer than 1/3 of those appointees ended up winning election in their own right. Even counting only those who chose to stand for election, barely half were able to make it through both their primaries and a general election to return to DC as elected senators.
The chart below divides all appointed senators by decade, indicating those who chose not to stand for election, those defeated in their primaries, those losing in a general election, and those who actually won at least a partial term in their own right. Retention rates, both as a percentage of ALL appointees, and of those who chose to stand for election, are also provided. [QUINN MCCORD]
Incum. Retention %
Didn't Def. for Def. in Won All Appointees/
Run Nomination General Election Only Those Who Ran
1910's 7 1 2 6 37.5% / 66.7%
1920's 7 2 6 11 42.3 / 57.9
1930's 10 5 3 11 37.9 / 57.9
1940's 19 4 5 10 26.3 / 52.6
1950's 11 2 5 3 14.3 / 30.0
1960's 3 3 7 7 35.0 / 41.2
1970's 3 4 1 1 11.1 / 16.7
1980's 1 0 2 3 50.0 / 60.0
1990's 2 1 2 3 37.5 / 50.0
2000's 1 0 1 2 50.0 / 66.7
('70s- (7) (5) (6) (9) 33.3 / 45.0
'00s)
('80s- (4) (1) (5) (8) 40.0 / 57.1
'00s)
Total: 64 22 34 57 32.8 / 50.4
Last GOPer to win: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) -- '04
Last GOPer to lose in primary: Sen. Sheila Frahm (R-KS) -- '96
Last GOPer to lose in general: Sen. John Seymour (R-CA) -- '92
Last Dem to win: Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) -- '00
Last Dem to lose in primary: Sen. Maryon Allen (D-AL) -- '78
Last Dem to lose in general: Sen. Jean Carnahan (D-MO) -- '04
Last NJ appointees (didn't run): Sen. Nicholas Brady (R-NJ) -- '82
Sen. Arthur Walsh (D-NJ) -- '43
Sen. John Milton (D-NJ) -- '38
Last NJ appointee to run/win: Sen. Warren Barbour (R-NJ) -- '32
No NJ appointee has stood for election and lost; Each time the
appointee didn't run, his party ended up losing the seat.
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