US Elections 2024: What Does the Vice President Actually Do?
We all know the President of the United States is a big deal, maybe even too much of one, but the Vice President (VP) tends to fly under the radar. I think the VP role is often overlooked, even though it’s actually quite fascinating and has changed a lot over time.
When the Constitution was written, the founders were worried that members of the Electoral College would only vote for someone from their own state, not the best choice for the country. To solve this, electors were given two votes, and the VP was simply whoever came in second. If there wasn’t a clear winner, the House or Senate would step in to decide. But once political parties emerged, this system didn’t work so well. In 1796, the President and VP came from different parties, and in 1800, there was a tie within the same party. That’s when the 12th Amendment (in 1804) changed things, requiring separate votes for President and VP, which made a lot more sense.
One thing that’s always been part of the VP’s job is being the Senate’s presiding officer, where they can break a tie if needed. They also have the power to preside over impeachment trials for federal officers, but not the President (for obvious reasons). We’ve never had a VP get impeached, though, so no one really knows how that would go down. Another big responsibility is overseeing the counting of electoral votes, which turned into a huge deal during the 2020 election chaos.
The Constitution says the VP steps in when necessary, but it didn’t actually say they would take over as President if the President died. That changed in 1841, when a VP just went ahead and became President, and that’s been the norm ever since. It wasn’t officially written into law until 1967, with the 25th Amendment. Over the years, nine VPs have taken over the presidency, and only six have been elected on their own (not counting re-elections). So being VP is a pretty solid path to the top job. Fun fact: Daniel Webster turned down the VP job twice, and both Presidents he refused to serve under ended up dying in office — talk about missed opportunities. Interestingly, seven VPs have died in office, and two resigned, which is a higher dropout rate than for Presidents.
For over a century, though, the VP job was mostly seen as pointless. Lots of VPs complained about it being boring or irrelevant. In fact, before the 25th Amendment, there was no system to replace a VP who either took over as President or dropped out, meaning the office was vacant for nearly 20% of U.S. history. The VP role only started gaining more power in the 20th century, when they were added to the Cabinet and began getting national security briefings. It’s wild to think that Harry Truman, who was VP for almost three months before taking over after Roosevelt’s death, didn’t even know about the Manhattan Project until he became President!
Nowadays, the VP has their own office in the White House and does a lot more. They advise the President, take on ceremonial duties, and work closely with Congress, which makes sense since they have one foot in both the executive and legislative branches. I’ve noticed that the VP candidates seem to be more carefully chosen now than they used to be, and that’s probably because the President and VP are expected to have a strong working relationship.
So, after all this evolution, the VP role has clearly become pretty important. I think it’s worth paying attention to who the VP candidate is when deciding who to vote for. They’re usually listed as a pair on the ballot, so you’re voting for both of them whether you realize it or not. If the President-elect drops out before taking office, the VP-elect steps in. It’s kind of surprising that we haven’t seen more TV shows or movies about the VP-elect pulling some shady moves to take over — seems like a good plot twist to me!
In the end, I think we should be giving VP candidates more scrutiny. They need a scorecard just like the President, even if the job skills are pretty similar. It’s an important role, and we shouldn’t just gloss over it.
