Gov. Joe Manchin's eventual choice to succeed the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd will have a tough time staying in office, if West Virginia's history is any guide.
"My grandfather had many friends in the U.S. Senate," Richard Neely said. "He had enough friends that he had the votes on the floor to have Joe Rosier seated."
Rosier failed to hold the seat, losing the resulting special election to Republican Hugh Ike Shott.
But Rosier was an acknowledged placeholder, meant to allow Matthew Neely to return to the Senate in 1942. That didn't happen: While he bested ex-Gov. Herman Kump in their party's primary, Neely lost that November to Chapman Revercomb.
Revercomb was the GOP's nominee after Shott chose to retire. Richard Neely attributes his grandfather's defeat to two factors: his siding with FDR against the United Mine Workers union during a coal strike threat, and his popularity in the office he already held.
"A lot of people voted against him because they wanted him to stay as governor," Neely said.
Matthew Neely later displaced Revercomb in a 1948 rematch. But Revercomb would again play spoiler in 1956, when Gov. William Marland sought a Senate seat.
Marland had appointed fellow Democrat William R. Laird III upon the death of Sen. Harvey Kilgore. Laird chose not to run, and Marland lost the general election to Revercomb.
The legacy of West Virginia governors eyeing the U.S. Senate began with its first chief executive, Arthur Boreman. He left office in 1869, just days before his term as governor ended, to accept a nomination to the Senate.
As voters did not directly elect senators until the 17th Amendment became law in 1913, the Legislature decided Boreman's successor. Two other West Virginians were appointed to Senate seats before that change. Democrat Samuel Price and Davis Elkins, a Republican, each filled vacancies caused by the death of the incumbent. In Elkins' case, it was his father. For both appointees, the Legislature chose other candidates when those seats came up for election.
Republican Gov. Howard Gore, meanwhile, was the other sitting governor who failed in his Senate bid. Gore lost his party's primary to another notable state political figure, Henry Hatfield.
For its review, The Associated Press consulted the Senate's online roster of appointees, Congress' biographical directory, historical election results and veteran Charleston Gazette reporter John Morgan's book "West Virginia Governors."
Click here to see a timeline, videos and more on Robert C. Byrd.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin's choice to succeed the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd will have a tough time staying in office, if history is any guide.
None of the five West Virginians previously appointed to vacant U.S. Senate seats survived the next election -- one decided not to run; the rest lost.
Results for West Virginia governors seeking a Senate berth have been nearly as poor. Four have pursued a Senate seat while in office. Just one has succeeded: Jay Rockefeller, who won his current Senate seat in 1984, toward the end of his second term as governor.
Byrd, American history's longest-serving senator, died Monday at 92. Manchin has not named his successor. Conflicting state statutes on the topic have led election officials to conclude that the eventual appointee will not have go before voters until 2012.
Republican John D. Hoblitzell Jr. was West Virginia's last Senate appointee, in 1958. Gov. Cecil Underwood picked the Wood County businessman upon the death of Sen. Matthew Neely, like Byrd a legendary Democratic politician in his time. Hoblitzell fell later that year to yet another larger-than-life Mountain State politico, Jennings Randolph.
The previous appointee, Joseph Rosier, was named by Neely in 1941 in one of the trickiest political maneuvers the state had then seen: Elected as governor while a U.S. senator, Neely tapped the fellow Democrat upon his swearing-in to fill the Senate seat he had just vacated.
Neely switched offices reluctantly, as part of his running battle with a rival faction of his party that opposed New Deal policies, recalled Richard Neely, his grandson and a retired state Supreme Court justice.
"He did not want West Virginia to fall to what he considered reactionary forces," said Neely, now a lawyer in Charleston. "He thought it would be irrevocable."
But outgoing Gov. Homer Holt had made his own choice for the seat, appointing Clarence E. Martin Sr. It fell to the Senate Elections Committee to resolve the dueling claims. Rosier prevailed. Among other factors, Neely had been in the Senate on and off since 1923.
"My grandfather had many friends in the U.S. Senate," Richard Neely said. "He had enough friends that he had the votes on the floor to have Joe Rosier seated."
Rosier failed to hold the seat, losing the resulting special election to Republican Hugh Ike Shott.
But Rosier was an acknowledged placeholder, meant to allow Matthew Neely to return to the Senate in 1942. That didn't happen: While he bested ex-Gov. Herman Kump in their party's primary, Neely lost that November to Chapman Revercomb.
Revercomb was the GOP's nominee after Shott chose to retire. Richard Neely attributes his grandfather's defeat to two factors: his siding with FDR against the United Mine Workers union during a coal strike threat, and his popularity in the office he already held.
"A lot of people voted against him because they wanted him to stay as governor," Neely said.
Matthew Neely later displaced Revercomb in a 1948 rematch. But Revercomb would again play spoiler in 1956, when Gov. William Marland sought a Senate seat.
Marland had appointed fellow Democrat William R. Laird III upon the death of Sen. Harvey Kilgore. Laird chose not to run, and Marland lost the general election to Revercomb.
The legacy of West Virginia governors eyeing the U.S. Senate began with its first chief executive, Arthur Boreman. He left office in 1869, just days before his term as governor ended, to accept a nomination to the Senate.
As voters did not directly elect senators until the 17th Amendment became law in 1913, the Legislature decided Boreman's successor. Two other West Virginians were appointed to Senate seats before that change. Democrat Samuel Price and Davis Elkins, a Republican, each filled vacancies caused by the death of the incumbent. In Elkins' case, it was his father. For both appointees, the Legislature chose other candidates when those seats came up for election.
Republican Gov. Howard Gore, meanwhile, was the other sitting governor who failed in his Senate bid. Gore lost his party's primary to another notable state political figure, Henry Hatfield.
For its review, The Associated Press consulted the Senate's online roster of appointees, Congress' biographical directory, historical election results and veteran Charleston Gazette reporter John Morgan's book "West Virginia Governors."
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