Frank Lautenberg
Credit: Huffington Post

Steadfast liberal and WWII veteran Frank Lautenberg passed away Monday after serving 30 years in the US Senate as New Jersey’s representative. His death leaves an empty seat in the upper house that will be filled with a special election in the fall- but in the meantime, Republican Governor Chris Christie will need to select an interim senator to hold down the fort.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker has emerged as the immediate front-runner for the spot. Since Lautenberg’s term was set to expire at the end of next year anyway, Booker was already running for the seat before its sudden vacancy. And thanks to murky state laws, Christie has set the date of the special election for October 16th, giving him a chance to keep Booker off the ballot come his reelection bid in November.

Cory Booker
Credit: Politico

However, naming Booker-or any Democrat, for that matter- as the state’s senatorial placeholder could inflame Christie’s Republican base, who was steamed when the governor embraced President Obama in the eleventh hour of his reelection campaign. Christie will need that support when voters go to the polls in five months to decide whether to give him a second term- a reality that will likely color the appointment process, especially when the governor is hoping to drum up a big victory margin in his blue state should he gun for the White House in 2016.

The timing of the special election, which Christie announced during a press conference on Tuesday, puts Democrats in a better position to win the seat. It also opens the governor up to criticism that he is wasting some $24 million in taxpayer money to hold two extra elections (a special primary and a special general) ahead of the regular November election for purely political reasons.

A bevy of names have been floated as potential picks for the appointment, but Booker aside, the most likely candidates seem to be former Gov. Tom Kean Sr. (R), bested Republican Senate candidate Joe Kyrillos, Congressman Chris Smith (D), and the state’s current lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno. Kean Sr. and Christie will reportedly meet about the appointment soon.