# If a Presidential nominee can't get a VP/running mate **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308 "2016-06-02T14:02:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/1 "2016-06-02T14:02:40Z")
What would happen if NO ONE would accept the position of VP for a presidential candidate? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/2 "2016-06-02T14:07:15Z")
**10% Rule** - 10% (or more) of the population will believe/do _anything_. Never happen, because at least one of the delegates voting for the Presidential candidate at the convention would jump at the chance to be VP. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/3 "2016-06-02T14:24:24Z")
Some hypotheticals don’t have answers. For this one to happen the circumstances would need to be so bizarre that we’d have to know exactly what they were before even a stupid answer could be given. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/4 "2016-06-02T14:25:49Z")
“Who am I? Why am I here?” ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/5 "2016-06-02T14:36:16Z")
Not a direct answer and different circumstances, but this reminds me of the Senate appointment of Roland Burris. > [@](#): > > On December 14, 2008, Burris suggested himself as a possible caretaker for the United States Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, saying he would not run for reelection if appointed.[18] Prior to this suggestion, Governor Blagojevich had been considering asking Oprah Winfrey but feared she would not take his call.[19] This suggestion came in the wake of an FBI investigation regarding charges of corruption against the Governor for seeking bribes in a pay-to-play scheme for the empty Senate seat and other offenses. Blagojevich says he appointed Burris because he believed Burris’s ego made him the only person who would fight to be seated.[20] > **[Roland Burris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Burris#Senate_appointment)** > > Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937) is an American retired Democratic politician and attorney who served as Attorney General of Illinois from 1991 to 1995. In January 2009, he was appointed a United States Senator, succeeding Barack Obama, who resigned to become president of the United States. Burris held this position until November 2010, retiring from front-line politics shortly after. > In 1978, Burris was the first African American elected to statewide office in Illinois, when he was... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/6 "2016-06-02T14:59:44Z")
It got kind of close in 1972 when George McGovern reportedly got turned down when he asked Ted Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Abraham Ribicoff and Walter Mondale, and shied away from Kevin White, because Kennedy and White were rivals. Finally, on the morning after he was nominated, McGovern asked Thomas Eagleton, who famously replied, “Before you change your mind, I accept.” That should have made McGovern think twice, because Eagleton was forced to drop out when it was discovered he’d been treated for depression. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/7 "2016-06-02T15:18:24Z")
**Moderating** Since this scenario is so unlikely as to be essentially impossible, I doubt there’s a factual answer. Let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/8 "2016-06-02T15:34:07Z")
There is no constitutional requirement that a party nominate candidates for both President and Vice President. If no one would agree to run on the same ticket as the Presidential candidate, then electors pledged to him (but to no Vice President) could theoretically still be elected. Electors are required to vote for a President and Vice President. Presumably they could vote for whomever they wanted for Vice President. If they didn’t agree to vote for the same candidate, it would be possible for the Vice Presidential candidate from the other party to be elected. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/9 "2016-06-02T16:44:31Z")
They can PM me. I’ll do it. Ex-president Millard Filmore was nominated by the Native American Party, _in absentia_, as the party’s presidential candidate. He was out of the country at the time of his nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/10 "2016-06-02T17:41:44Z")
In light of this, the [Sherman pledge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shermanesque_statement) makes a lot of sense. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/11 "2016-06-02T18:53:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There is no constitutional requirement that a party nominate candidates for both President and Vice President. If no one would agree to run on the same ticket as the Presidential candidate, then electors pledged to him (but to no Vice President) could theoretically still be elected. Electors are required to vote for a President and Vice President. Presumably they could vote for whomever they wanted for Vice President. If they didn’t agree to vote for the same candidate, it would be possible for the Vice Presidential candidate from the other party to be elected. More likely, no vice presidential candidate would win a majority of electoral votes, and the Senate would elect the Vice President from among the top contenders, according to the procedure described in the 12th Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/12 "2016-06-02T20:01:23Z")
Another unusual case from history: When William Jennings Bryan ran for President in 1896, he had two different running mates. Bryan was nominated by both the Democratic Party and the Populist Party. But the Democrats chose Arthur Sewall as their Vice Presidential nominee while the Populists chose Thomas Watson. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/13 "2016-06-03T04:04:21Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There is no constitutional requirement that a party nominate candidates for both President and Vice President. If no one would agree to run on the same ticket as the Presidential candidate, then electors pledged to him (but to no Vice President) could theoretically still be elected. Electors are required to vote for a President and Vice President. Many states, however, require that a party (or an independent candidate) list a running mate on the ballot. (Even though as voters we aren’t voting for _either_ candidate, but for a slate of electors.) This can be evaded by listing place-holders as VP candidates; George Wallace did this in many states in 1968. Wallace didn’t want to have a “real” running mate at all, but his advisors finally persuaded him he had to, not for legal but for political reasons. He named Lemay so late, though, that the place-holders remained on most state ballots. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/14 "2016-06-03T14:00:36Z")
There is actually a real answer for this as Colibri points out. The electors for the several states and DC would simply vote for someone who was constitutionally eligible\*. If no one got a majority, each Senator would vote from the top 2 vote-getters. \*With the caveat that the electors in their candidate’s home state would have to vote for someone not a resident of that state. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-presidential-nominee-cant-get-a-vp-running-mate/756308/15 "2016-06-03T14:53:07Z")
The Democratic National Convention of 1840 chose to make no vice presidential nomination. In those days the parties printed their own electoral tickets, so they didn’t have to worry about ballot access laws. Their presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, got crushed in the fall election, but he did win 60 electoral votes. The electors split their VP votes among three different candidates.