How Nevada Fills a Vacant U.S. Senate Seat
When a U.S. senator dies or resigns, the 17th Amendment lets each state decide whether its governor can name a temporary replacement. Forty-five states allow that. In 34 of them, including Nevada, the appointee serves until the next regular general election. Eleven states require a faster special election. Five (Kentucky, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin) leave the seat empty until voters fill it.
Nevada adds limits. Under NRS 304.030, the governor may appoint only a qualified person from the same political party as the departing senator, and that person must have been in the party for at least 90 days before the vacancy. The replacement serves until the next general election and until a successor is elected and seated. The state does not call an automatic special election.
That rule would decide a vacancy today. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) and Jacky Rosen (D) hold Nevada’s two seats, with terms running through 2029 and 2031. There is no Senate race on the 2026 ballot. Gov. Joe Lombardo is a Republican. If either office opened, he would have to appoint a Democrat.
Nevada governors have used this power several times before. Interim senators were named after the deaths of Francis Newlands (D), Key Pittman (D), James Scrugham (D), and Pat McCarran (D). The appointees were Charles Henderson (D), Berkeley Bunker (D), Edward Carville (D), and Ernest Brown (R). None kept the seat for long. The same-party rule was not in statute until 1960, which is why Brown, a Republican, could replace McCarran, a Democrat. Dean Heller (R), appointed in 2011 after John Ensign (R) resigned, won in 2012 and held the seat until 2019.
The other vacancies in Nevada work differently. A U.S. House seat is filled by special election. State Senate and Assembly vacancies are filled by county commissions, which must pick someone from the same party.
