President-elect Donald Trump has tapped several sitting members of Congress to serve in his administration — meaning their empty seats will have to be filled.

So far, he has chosen Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to serve as secretary of state and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as his U.N. ambassador. Both positions require Senate confirmation.

Additionally, Trump picked Florida Rep. Mike Waltz to serve as his national security adviser — a White House position which does not require Senate confirmation.

Trump also tapped Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general, but Gaetz, who already resigned from Congress, withdrew his name from consideration on Nov. 21 following scrutiny over a sex trafficking investigation.

In anticipation of resignations from Rubio, Stefanik and Waltz — and following Gaetz’s resignation — here is how vacancies are filled in both chambers of Congress.

Senate vacancies

Senate vacancies — which can occur as a result of resignation, expulsion or death — are almost always remedied by governors.

“At present, 45 states authorize their governors to appoint a Senator to fill a vacancy until a replacement is elected,” according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

The other five states — Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Oregon, North Dakota and Kentucky — only allow Senate vacancies to be filled by special elections.

Florida, Rubio’s state, permits the governor to appoint an interim senator to fill a vacancy until the next general election.

Ron DeSantis, the governor of the Sunshine State, has said he will likely announce his choice to replace Rubio in January.

“We have already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting,” DeSantis wrote in a Nov. 18 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A number of names have already been suggested to fill the seat, including Lara Trump, the president-elect’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the RNC, according to The Hill.

“Florida deserves a Senator who will help President Trump deliver on his election mandate, be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and has a proven record of results,” DeSantis added.

House vacancies

Vacancies in the House of Representatives, on the other hand, do not result in interim appointments by governors.

Instead, all House vacancies are filled by special election, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

“Responsibility for ordering a special election is thus vested in the governors of the states, while scheduling is prescribed in state law,” according to the report. “Once a vacancy has occurred, most state laws set a window of time, or prescribe an exact number of days after the vacancy occurs, in which nomination procedures begin and the special election must be held.”

In Florida, where Waltz represents the sixth congressional district and Gaetz represented the first district, the special election process is expected to be set forth soon.

“I’ve instructed Secretary of State Cord Byrd to formulate and announce a schedule for the upcoming special elections immediately,” DeSantis wrote in a Nov. 14 post on X.

At least one person has already thrown their hat in the ring to replace Waltz.

Ernest Audino, a Waltz staffer and former Army general, intends to run in the special election, according to USA Today.

In New York, where Stefanik serves in the 21st congressional district, the special election will be held 70 to 90 days after Gov. Kathy Hochul is officially notified of the vacancy, according to Politico.

Political insiders have floated a number of names to run in the election, including Paula Collins, a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful campaign against Stefanik earlier this year, according to the Times Union.

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