Rick Hasen at Election Law may have the answer to the legal of replacing DeLay as well as an explanation as to why DeLay is going to officially move to Virginia, as he stated in the Time interview.
Had he stayed in the state as an official resident, he might have made it impossible for the party to replace him:
Instead, reports suggest he will move from Texas, thereby becoming ineligible to serve. (See section 145.003 on declaration of ineligibility.) If he is “ineligible” rather than “withdraws,” section 145.036 gives the party the right to name a candidate to fill the vacancy.
As such, it appears that this will not be a Toricelli/Lautenberg situation.
Rick has more info in the post that would be of interest to the election geeks in the audience.
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April 4th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Tom DeLay’s Replacement
Rick Hasen explains what initially struck me as an odd note in Tom DeLay’s resignation announcement: “I also intend to relocate to my Virginia property and reside closer to Washington.” I read that as code for “since I love l…
April 5th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
“The election geeks in the audience.”
I have no idea whom you are referring to.