Vice President-elect of the United States

{{Short description|Elected candidate for vice president of the U.S. in the time before inauguration}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}

{{Infobox Political post

| post = Vice President-elect

| body =
the United States

| insignia =

| insigniasize =

| insigniacaption =

| image =

| imagesize = 200

| incumbent = Not applicable

| incumbentsince = January 20, 2025

| style = The Honorable

| residence =

| termlength = In the period between the general election on Election Day in November and Noon (Eastern Standard Time) on Inauguration Day (January 20)

| formation = No official formation

| salary = None

| deputy =

| inaugural = John Adams
January 10, 1789

| website =

| termlength_qualified =

}}

The Vice President-elect of the United States is the candidate who has been elected to the office of vice president of the United States in a United States presidential election, but is awaiting inauguration to assume office.

There is no explicit indication in the U.S. Constitution as to when that person actually becomes vice president-elect, although the Twentieth Amendment uses the term "vice president-elect", thus giving the term constitutional justification.

The term corresponds to the term "president-elect of the United States", used for those elected president of the United States for the same period between their election and inauguration.

Incumbent vice presidents, who have won re-election for a second term, are generally not referred to as the vice president-elect, as they are already in office and are to become the vice president.

{{United States presidential transitions series}}

Elections of vice presidents-elect

File:Vice President-elect speaking into microphones on the front porch of the White House. President Harry S. Truman... - NARA - 199949.jpg speaks at the White House on November 5, 1948. Barkley had been elected on a ticket alongside incumbent-president Harry S. Truman]]

File:President Lyndon B. Johnson and Vice-President-Elect Hubert Humphrey (436-253-wh64).jpg horse-riding at the LBJ ranch on November 4, 1964. Humphrey had been elected on a ticket alongside incumbent-president Lyndon B. Johnson]]

In many, but not all, instances in which a new vice president has been elected, there is also a change of presidents, with a new president having been elected. This has not always been the case, however. There have been instances in which an incumbent president is reelected with a new vice president-elect as their running mate. This has often been due to an incumbent vice president having not received renomination. The most recent time this happened was in 1944, when Harry S. Truman was elected to replace Henry A. Wallace alongside the ailing three-term president Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, in other instances, this has been due to the vice presidency having been vacant, as there was no way to fill a vice presidential vacancy mid-term until the ratification of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The most recent time that a new vice president was elected alongside an incumbent president was in 1964, when Hubert Humphrey was elected alongside Lyndon B. Johnson, with the vice presidency being vacant due to Johnson's ascension after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ever since, all elections of new vice presidents have come alongside an election of a new president. On November 5, 2024, Donald J. Trump became the first president to win re-election with a different vice president JD Vance.

It is possible for an incumbent vice president to win reelection as the running mate of a new president-elect, in which case there would be a United States presidential transition with the election of a new president-elect, but there would be no vice president-elect. This first happened in 1808 when Vice President George Clinton, who was originally elected with Thomas Jefferson, was reelected as vice president with James Madison becoming president-elect. This happened again in 1828, when Vice President John C. Calhoun, who was elected vice president in 1824 with John Quincy Adams, was re-elected as vice president with Andrew Jackson becoming president-elect.

Roles in presidential transitions

File:LBJ and JFK 1960 (1).jpg with President-elect John F. Kennedy during the 1960–61 presidential transition of John F. Kennedy]]

As previously mentioned many vice presidents-elect, and all from 1968 onwards, have been elected alongside a new president-elect, meaning that the period before many vice-presidents elects have entered office as vice president have entailed presidential transitions.

Similar to the president-elect, the General Services Administration is authorized by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 to provide the vice president-elect with funding, office space, and various government services (such as transportation and communications) to accommodate their role in the transition between presidential administrations.{{cite web |title=PUBLIC LAW 88-277-MAR. 7, 1964 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg153.pdf |website=govinfo.gov |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=21 May 2021 |date=7 March 1964}}

The role that various vice presidents-elect have played in United States presidential transitions has differed.

Two vice presidents-elect have been in charge of presidential transitions as formal chairmen, Dick Cheney in the presidential transition of George W. Bush (2000–01){{cite web |title=Chronology--Transition |url=http://p2000.us/chrntran.html |website=p2000.us |access-date=1 February 2021}} and Mike Pence in the presidential transition of Donald Trump (2016–17).{{cite web |last1=Bender |first1=Michael C. |title=Donald Trump Shuffles Transition Team, Making Mike Pence Chairman |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-shuffles-transition-team-making-mike-pence-chairman-1478890592 |website=Wall Street Journal |access-date=20 May 2021 |date=2016-11-12}}

Bill Clinton heavily involved Vice President-elect Al Gore in his 1992–93 transition, including him in a group of confidants that joined Clinton in making many of the transition's top decisions.{{cite web |last1=Skinner |first1=Richard |title=Bill Clinton set a bad example with his transition |url=https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2016/10/7/13143186/bill-clinton-transition-bad |website=Vox |access-date=1 February 2021 |language=en |date=7 October 2016}} Jimmy Carter allowed Vice President-elect Walter Mondale to play a role in his 1976–77 transition, including allowing him to provide input on some individuals being considered for roles in the administration.{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=John P. |title=Presidential Transitions: From Politics To Practice |date=2000 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |location=Boulder |isbn=1555879160 |page= 29}}

Some presidents-elect have excluded their vice presidents-elect from playing a significant role in their transition. For instance, in Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1952–53 transition, Vice President-elect Richard Nixon did not play an active role.{{cite book |last1=Henry |first1=Laurin L. |title=Presidential Transitions |date=January 1961 |publisher=The Brookings Institution |location=Washington, D.C. |page=491}} During Nixon's own 1968–69 presidential transition, Vice President-elect Spiro Agnew was similarly largely uninvolved.{{cite book |last=Coffey |first=Joseph P. |title=Spiro Agnew and the Rise of the Republican Right |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=89–91|year=2015 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=978-1440841415}}

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| File:President Ronald Reagan Nancy Reagan George Bush Barbara Bush Dan Quayle Marilyn Quayle Photo Op with Newly Elected George Bush and Dan Quayle.jpg

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| Vice President-elect Dan Quayle (second from right) and his wife Marilyn with Vice President and President-elect George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara, as well as outgoing president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy during a press conference held in the White House Rose Garden during the 1988–89 presidential transition of George H. W. Bush

| File:20081215 PRESSER-5005 (1).jpg

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| Vice President-elect Joe Biden (left) with President-elect Barack Obama during a press conference held amid the 2008–09 presidential transition of Barack Obama

| File:Speaker Ryan with Trump and Pence.jpg

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| Vice President-elect Mike Pence (right) joins President-elect Donald Trump (left) at a meeting with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan during the 2016–17 presidential transition of Donald Trump

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Procedure for replacement

If the vice president-elect dies or resigns before the meeting of the Electoral College in December, the national committee of the winning party would, in consultation with the president-elect, choose a replacement to receive the electoral votes of the vice presidential nominee in the same manner as would happen if the former vice presidential nominee had become president-elect due to the death of the apparent winner. Assuming the requisite number the electors agreed to vote for the replacement candidate, that person would then become the vice president-elect. If such a vacancy were to occur after the electoral votes had been cast in the states, most authorities maintain that no replacement would be chosen and the new president (after taking office) would nominate a vice president, per the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30527.pdf|title=Presidential Elections in the United States: A Primer|last1=Coleman|first1=Kevin J.|last2=Cantor|first2=Joseph E.|last3=Neale|first3=Thomas H.|work=CRS Report for Congress|publisher=Congressional Research Service - Library of Congress|date=April 17, 2000|page=48|access-date=December 24, 2016|archive-date=March 31, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331071418/http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30527.pdf|url-status=live}}

Vice President-designate of the United States

Before ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, the Constitution contained no provision for filling an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency. As a result, when one occurred (and did 16 times), the office was left vacant until filled through the next ensuing election and inauguration. Since 1967, the vice presidency has been vacant twice, and a successor was nominated each time to fill the vacancy in accordance with the 25th Amendment. The first instance was in 1973 when Gerald Ford was nominated by President Richard Nixon to succeed Spiro Agnew, who had resigned. The second came in 1974, when Ford, who had succeeded to the presidency following Nixon's resignation, nominated Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him.{{cite episode |title=Profile of Vice President-Designate Gerald Ford |series=NBC Nightly News |date=October 13, 1973 |network=NBC |last1=Nessen |first1=Ron (Reporter) |author-link1=Ron Nessen |last2=Jamieson |first2=Bob (Reporter) |author-link2=Bob Jamieson |last3=Brokaw |first3=Tom (Anchor) |author-link3=Tom Brokaw |url=http://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/flatview?cuecard=34470 |access-date=December 22, 2016 |archive-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114173117/https://www.youtube.com/nbclearn |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://fordlibrarymuseum.tumblr.com/post/95281417942/nelson-rockefeller-vice-president-designate|title=Nelson Rockefeller, Vice President-Designate|publisher=Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum|access-date=December 22, 2016|archive-date=November 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114173117/https://fordlibrarymuseum.tumblr.com/post/95281417942/nelson-rockefeller-vice-president-designate|url-status=live}} During both vacancies, the nominee was called vice president-designate, instead of vice president-elect, as neither had been elected to the office.

List of vice presidents-elect

class="wikitable"
colspan=2 |Vice President-elect{{efn|Column counts number of vice president-elect. Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller are not counted because they entered office intra-term and were never elected to the vice presidency. }}

! colspan=2 |Party

! Following

! Through

1

| John Adams

style="background:#FFF;"| NonpartisanElection of 1788–89{{Efn|Also after a delay in the certification of the electoral votes by Congress.}}George Washington's first inauguration
2

| Thomas Jefferson

rowspan="6" style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic-Republican Party}}"| rowspan="6" | Democratic-RepublicanElection of 1796John Adams's inauguration
3

| Aaron Burr

Election of 1800{{Efn|name=plusce|Also after a contingent election in the House of Representatives.}}Thomas Jefferson's first inauguration
4

| George Clinton

Election of 1804Thomas Jefferson's second inauguration
5

| Elbridge Gerry

Election of 1812James Madison's second inauguration
6

| Daniel D. Tompkins

Election of 1816James Monroe's first inauguration
7

|John C. Calhoun

Election of 1824{{Efn|name=plusce}}John Quincy Adams's inauguration
8

| Martin Van Buren

rowspan="2" style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="2" | DemocraticElection of 1832Andrew Jackson's second inauguration
9

| Richard Mentor Johnson

Election of 1836Martin Van Buren's inauguration
10

| John Tyler

style="background-color:{{party color|Whig Party (United States)}}" | WhigElection of 1840William Henry Harrison's inauguration
11

| George M. Dallas

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 1844James K. Polk's inauguration
12

| Millard Fillmore

style="background-color:{{party color|Whig Party (United States)}}" | WhigElection of 1848Zachary Taylor's inauguration
13

| William R. King

rowspan="2" style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="2" | DemocraticElection of 1852Oath of office administered March 24, 1853{{Efn|Ill with tuberculosis, William King traveled to Cuba after the 1852 election in an effort to regain his health, and was not able to be in Washington, D.C. to take his oath of office on March 4, 1853. By an Act of Congress, he was allowed to take the oath outside the United States, and was sworn in on March 24, 1853 near Matanzas, Cuba. He is the only vice president to take his oath of office in a foreign country.}}
14

| John C. Breckinridge

Election of 1856James Buchanan's inauguration
15

| Hannibal Hamlin

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}"| RepublicanElection of 1860Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration
16

| Andrew Johnson

style="background-color:{{party color|National Union Party (US)}}" | National UnionElection of 1864Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration
17

| Schuyler Colfax

rowspan="4" style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="4" | RepublicanElection of 1868Ulysses S. Grant's first inauguration
18

| Henry Wilson

Election of 1872Ulysses S. Grant's second inauguration
19

| William A. Wheeler

Election of 1876{{efn|Also after a dispute over 20 electoral votes from four states was resolved by a special Electoral Commission established by Congress.}}Rutherford B. Hayes's inauguration
20

| Chester A. Arthur

Election of 1880James A. Garfield's inauguration
21

| Thomas A. Hendricks

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 1884Grover Cleveland's first inauguration
22

| Levi P. Morton

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | RepublicanElection of 1888Benjamin Harrison's inauguration
23

| Adlai Stevenson I

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 1892Grover Cleveland's second inauguration
24

| Garret Hobart

rowspan="4" style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="4" | RepublicanElection of 1896William McKinley's first inauguration
25

| Theodore Roosevelt

Election of 1900William McKinley's second inauguration
26

| Charles W. Fairbanks

Election of 1904Theodore Roosevelt's second inauguration
27

| James S. Sherman

Election of 1908William Howard Taft's inauguration
28

| Thomas R. Marshall

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 1912Woodrow Wilson's first inauguration
29

| Calvin Coolidge

rowspan="3" style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="3" | RepublicanElection of 1920Warren G. Harding's inauguration
30

| Charles G. Dawes

Election of 1924Calvin Coolidge's inauguration
31

| Charles Curtis

Election of 1928Herbert Hoover's inauguration
32

| John Nance Garner

rowspan=4 style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="4" | DemocraticElection of 1932Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inauguration
33

| Henry A. Wallace

Election of 1940Franklin D. Roosevelt's third inauguration
34

| Harry S. Truman

Election of 1944Franklin D. Roosevelt's fourth inauguration
35

| Alben W. Barkley

Election of 1948Harry S. Truman's second inauguration
36

| Richard Nixon

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | RepublicanElection of 1952Dwight D. Eisenhower's first inauguration
37

| Lyndon B. Johnson

rowspan=2 style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="2" | DemocraticElection of 1960John F. Kennedy's inauguration
38

| Hubert Humphrey

Election of 1964Lyndon B. Johnson's second inauguration
39

| Spiro Agnew

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | RepublicanElection of 1968Richard Nixon's first inauguration
40

| Walter Mondale

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 1976Jimmy Carter's inauguration
41

| George H. W. Bush

rowspan="2" style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | rowspan="2" | RepublicanElection of 1980Ronald Reagan's first inauguration
42

| Dan Quayle

Election of 1988George H. W. Bush's inauguration
43

| Al Gore

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 1992Bill Clinton's first inauguration
44

| Dick Cheney

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | RepublicanElection of 2000{{Efn|Also after a dispute over Florida's 25 electoral votes was resolved by the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore, which halted the Florida vote recount that was under way.{{cite news| title=Bush, now president-elect, signals will to bridge partisan gaps| last=McCaleb| first=Ian Christopher| date=December 13, 2000| url=https://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/13/election.wrap/| publisher=CNN.com| access-date=February 10, 2009| archive-date=November 14, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114173114/https://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/13/election.wrap/| url-status=live}}}}George W. Bush's first inauguration
45

| Joe Biden

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 2008Barack Obama's first inauguration
46

| Mike Pence

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | RepublicanElection of 2016Donald Trump's first inauguration
47

| Kamala Harris

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}" | DemocraticElection of 2020Joe Biden's inauguration
48

| JD Vance

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" | RepublicanElection of 2024Donald Trump's second inauguration
colspan=6 |Notes:
{{notelist}}

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{United States presidential transitions}}

{{United States presidential elections}}

{{United States presidential inaugurations}}

Category:Presidential elections in the United States

Category:United States presidential inaugurations

Category:United States presidential transitions

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