The reason Republicans are hiding it, is if McTurtle is declared incompetent (or dead) before August 3rd, that makes the election to replace him “special”.
That matters because in a special election, people who lost a primary can run as independent when they can’t in a normal Kentucky election.
Which would mean Maisse can run as an I, just to split the Republican vote and hand it to a Dem.
And he’s itching to do it, and trump fucking hates him.
Beshar can’t really do much except press the issue tho, so I’m pressure they’ll be able to hide the turtle till after the cutoff.
If they can’t for whatever reason, it’s going to be huge
It doesn’t necessarily make the entire election “special” though. It depends on KY law and how far the relative parties want to push it, but it is possible to schedule a special election and a general election on the same day.
In that case, the special election will have different rules for qualification. The winner would take office right after the special election is certified but only serve until the scheduled end of the term (about five or six weeks). Then the winner of the general election would take over at the normal time. Two ballot lines, essentially for the same job. And Massie will not be on the general election ballot.
So, if this is the reason what it really means is they would rather leave the seat vacant until the end of the term than give Massie any platform whatsoever. If he wins a special election, even if he only serves a few weeks he can use that to go after Rand Paul when his term is up.
Ghosts are transparent.
It’s hard to “give an update” when you are dead.
