The law is, if we are honest, arguably unconstitutional. The Constitution says the governor shall appoint the replacement - it says nothing about the legislature being able to limit who he can appoint. So winning this governor’s race is important, but it is being virtually ignored.
That could be why McConnell is hanging on. His seat isn’t up for another 3 years. If there’s a real chance that the rat governor would flip the seat, maybe even appoint himself and have it stand up in court, I’d rather have McConnell “serve” Feinstein-style until he’s room temperature.