President-elect Donald J. Trump is packing his administration with Republican office holders who are set to leave behind a trail of vacancies extending from Capitol Hill to at least one governor’s seat.
Those openings are unlikely to shift the balance of power in Congress or at the state level. Still, not every vacancy will get filled in the same way, with a mishmash of arcane rules governing the processes.
It can be downright confusing. Here’s what to expect:
JD Vance: vice president
How Vance’s Senate seat in Ohio will be filled
When Mr. Trump named Ohio’s junior senator as his running mate, he did so knowing that the state’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, would get to appoint Mr. Vance’s temporary replacement if the pair was elected.
Ohio is one of 45 states that grant that power to the governor. That means Republicans, who flipped control of the Senate in the Nov. 5 election, will almost certainly keep the seat until at least 2026, when there will be a special election to determine who serves out the remaining two years of Mr. Vance’s term.
The next regular election for the seat will be in 2028. The state has turned increasingly red, and its Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, lost re-election in November.
Marco Rubio: Secretary of State
How Rubio’s Senate seat in Florida will be filled
Should the Senate confirm Florida’s senior senator for the prestigious cabinet role, the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, would choose his replacement.
Mr. DeSantis, who endorsed Mr. Trump after dropping his own Republican presidential bid, would appoint someone to the seat, and then a special election would be held in 2026 to fill the remaining two years of Mr. Rubio’s term. The seat would be up for election again in 2028. Florida has not elected a Democratic senator in over a decade.
Matt Gaetz: Attorney General
How Gaetz’s House seat in Florida will be filled
Mr. Gaetz, selected for attorney general, has been one of Mr. Trump’s most polarizing cabinet picks. A hard-right provocateur, Mr. Gaetz cruised to a fifth term in his safely Republican House district on Florida’s panhandle this month. Vacancies in the House — where Republicans kept a slim majority in the election — are filled differently than those in the Senate.
A Florida state law says that the governor, in consultation with Florida’s secretary of state, must select the dates of a special primary election and a special election.
Mr. DeSantis said he instructed Cord Byrd, the secretary of state and a Republican, to schedule a special election immediately to fill the seat, and Mr. Byrd said he would do so soon. But a date has not yet been announced.
Mr. DeSantis’s urgency to fill the vacancy contrasted sharply with the timing of a special election after the death of Representative Alcee Hastings, a Democrat, in April 2021. Mr. DeSantis scheduled special primaries seven months later, and a special general election was held in January 2022.
Mike Waltz: National Security Adviser
How Waltz’s House seat in Florida will be filled
The former Green Beret, who received four Bronze Stars and is known for his hawkish views on national security, was re-elected with more than 65 percent of the vote in November in east-central Florida. His district, Florida’s Sixth, is one of the most Republican-leaning areas in the country.
The seat will be filled in a special election, which Mr. DeSantis has also said that he wants scheduled immediately. No date has yet been announced.
Elise Stefanik: United Nations Ambassador
How Stefanik’s House seat in New York will be filled
The No. 4 leader of the House Republicans was rewarded for her unflagging loyalty to Mr. Trump, who offered her the role of U.N. ambassador. She will leave what is viewed as a safe G.O.P. district in upstate New York.
Under state law, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, will have 10 days after Ms. Stefanik resigns to call for a special election, which must take place between 70 and 80 days after that.
Ms. Stefanik has not yet resigned; it is customary for nominees to wait until after Senate confirmation before they do. That process will begin after Mr. Trump takes office.
Kristi Noem: Homeland Security Secretary
How Noem’s job as South Dakota governor will be filled
In filling all the vacancies that Mr. Trump’s nominees would create, the process of installing South Dakota’s next governor may be the simplest.
The office would be taken over by the lieutenant governor, Larry Rhoden, a Republican who has been Ms. Noem’s running mate for two election cycles.
At one point during the 2024 presidential election, Ms. Noem drew mention as a possible contender to be Mr. Trump’s running mate. Then the release of her memoir brought negative attention over her account of shooting her dog in a gravel pit and her false claims about having met with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader.
Her cabinet post requires Senate confirmation.
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