Senate OK’s Kennedy successor bill

The state Senate approved a bill yesterday that would let Governor Deval Patrick appoint an interim successor to Edward M. Kennedy, paving the way for the appointment of a new US senator as early as tomorrow and providing Democrats in Washington the potential 60th vote they have been seeking to pass a health care overhaul.

The state Senate approved the measure by a 24-to-16 vote, just five days after the House had voted 95 to 58 to change Massachusetts election law and allow the appointment of an interim US senator. Both chambers are planning to give a final procedural endorsement to the measure and to send it to the governor’s desk today; the only potential hurdle is that Republicans are contemplating a last-ditch legal challenge in an effort to derail the legislation.

News of the vote reverberated yesterday from Beacon Hill to Washington, where US Senate majority leader Harry Reid, informed of the news when a note was passed to him, pumped his fist into the air and cracked a small smile, according to an aide.

All attention now turns to Patrick, who has been weighing the appointment options with a close circle of advisers in recent days, asking them to cast a wide net, according to a person with knowledge of the process who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. It has been an “extensive vetting process,’’ but the governor is still mulling over candidates, the person said.

The governor is hoping to be able to appoint someone tomorrow or Friday, the person said.

Mindful of recent controversies over interim US Senate appointments in New York and Illinois, Patrick administration officials have declined to release the names of those under consideration.

“The governor appreciates the support voiced in the Senate today and the action taken by the House last week to ensure Massachusetts has full representation in the Congress,’’ Patrick’s spokesman, Kyle Sullivan, said in a statement.

The interim senator appointed by Patrick would serve until voters elect a new senator in a Jan. 19 special election. That senator would serve the remaining three years of Kennedy’s term.

Kennedy’s two sons, US Representative Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island and businessman Edward M. Kennedy Jr., have told Governor Patrick that their first choice for an interim senator is former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., according to a Kennedy family associate.

Kirk, an attorney who lives on Cape Cod, worked as a special assistant to Senator Kennedy from 1969 to 1977, is currently the chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, and last month served as master of ceremonies at a widely watched memorial service the night before Senator Kennedy’s funeral.