Some of These Members Are Not Like the Others

Every lame duck session of Congress is special in its own way, and the current one, operating alongside the orientation session for newly elected members of Congress, has its share of oddities and weirdness.

An Appointed House Member?

Speaker Paul D. Ryan swore in new members of the House on Tuesday, those who won special elections to fill out unexpired terms, Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., and Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa. Oh, and also an “appointed” member, Republican Kevin Hern of Oklahoma.

An “appointed” member of the House? But the Constitution states members of the House need to be elected, in special or general elections, right? From Article 1, Section 2: “When vacancies happen in Representation from any State, the Executive Authority therof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.”

They do things different in Oklahoma, though.

Hern did defeat Democrat Tim Gilpin on November 6 in the general election for the District 1 seat vacated earlier this year by Republican Jim Bridenstine, who is now the administrator of NASA. Oklahoma law does not allow special elections in even-numbered years, though, so the Bridenstine seat had been vacant since April 23, and the general election was for the 116th Congress, which begins January 3.