Gov. Ruth Ann Minner said in a press conference Monday afternoon that Ted Kaufman, the longtime aide to Joe Biden, was named to fill the Senate seat Biden is leaving for the vice presidency. Kaufman, Biden's former chief of staff and an adviser during his White House bid this year, will fill the vacant seat for two years until 2010. State law requires that a special election be held until the next election.

Biden's seat will become open because he and Democratic President-elect Barack Obama defeated Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin in the Nov. 4 presidential election. Obama resigned his U.S. Senate seat effective Nov. 16. Minner said Biden wants to remain in the Senate until he is sworn in for his seventh term in.

The vice president-elect's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, and Delaware Lt. Gov. John Carney had been reported as contenders for the seat. But last week, however, the younger Biden announced that he planned to fulfill his National Guard duties and wouldn't accept an appointment to his father's U.S. Senate seat.

Kaufman is also president of a political and management consulting firm based in Wilmington. He worked for Biden for 22 years, retiring in 1994 as chief of staff of the senator's Washington office. "There is no one who knows more about how the United States Senate works and no one who is more ready to do this job for Delaware than Ted Kaufman," said Biden in a statement on the Kaufman pick. "Over the years, he has earned the respect of those who have served, like Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey and of those who are still there, like Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. He will make a great partner with Senator Tom Carper."