Trump will not step away from the Republican candidacy as Biden did. But who would take his place if he died? Vance?
Most likely. Although boy would there be a series of knife fights under a series of blankets before everyone converged on Vance.
I’d pay serious money to have an inside seat at that show.
I’m pretty sure the republicans said you can’t switch your nominee this late in the game. Since, according to them, we didn’t vote for Harris, then they wouldn’t have voted for his replacement either. Seems like they’d have to forfeit the race. Maybe next time they won’t pick someone so old.
ETA, but yeah, Probably Vance at this point. I don’t know much of anything about him, but how much time do they have left to spin up an entirely new campaign. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if they, and all political parties in a race this important, have a contingency plan for something like this.
Not sword fights? 
Theoretically, a VP is supposed to be ready to take the reins in case the President is incapacitated. Since Vance is the VP pick, then on the face of it he’s ready to step up. If the Republican Party tries to choose someone else, then they will be admitting that Vance is not suited to be President.
Of course, IOKWARDI. Kidding aside, the RNC does have protocols in place to replace a nominee (for either president or vice-president), if the candidate withdraws, dies, etc.
As far as who, I have no danged clue. AIUI, their stated protocols would not automatically elevate Vance to that slot. As I stated in the Vance thread here earlier today, I highly doubt that Trump would ever anoint a chosen successor, and so, such an event would bring out every wannabe in the GOP, all angling for position as the One True Heir to MAGA Nation, and it would be an ugly knife fight, as @LSLGuy says.
This has already been covered in other threads, but as a matter of party rules the 150 or so members of the Republican National Committee would decide who would fill the vacancy. They’re pretty much all die-hard Trumpist, but as soon as he croaks they’re not going to have any continuing sense of obligation to Vance. They may go with him for expediency’s sake, but given his performance over the last few weeks I think it’s more likely that they’d choose a Republican governor.
My guess – Greg Abbott.
The Republicans are known followers. They have the whole “you call our guy an idiot (Bush, the lesser), we’ll call your guy an immigrant (Obama)”. “You take our guy to court (Trump), we’ll take one of yours to court, too (Hunter Biden)”. “You call our guy the worst President in history, we’ll call yours the worst President in history. There!”
So, I am speculating there are some in the Republican campaign HQ pondering “Well, the Democrats successfully rebooted their flagging campaign by changing horses, so, uh, mayyybeee…” - point being, there is probably a plan for such an event as Trump no longer available. I mean, it’s a professional political party, right?
The RNC decides. It is not automatically Vance.
That being said, Vance would definitely have the inside track. It’s hard to see Haley beating him out.
Do the Republicans have that same issue that was anticipated for the Democrats, where the money that has been raised so far is bound to the names that are already on the ticket? Not that such a rule would actually matter to them but still…
In reverse order …
It used to be. Whether any of that professionalism remains today is very much unclear to me.
That is certainly a good guess if you / they want to go hardcore Fascist - trumpist.
Explanation please …
That’s now a rhetorical question by me. Some quick Googling provides an answer …
Google’s first cite (of two) is to this very insightful website loaded w the latest of political insider info: 
heh!
I disagree w this analysis. The President candidate is chosen primarily based on ability to win, and only secondarily, at best, on ability to govern. See trump, donald j fuckstick as Exhibit 1.
The VP is simply chosen to (incrementally) improve the electability of the combined ticket, and oh by the way meet the most basic criteria of possible contingent president-ness: be a citizen and have a pulse.
If Vance is replaced that solely speaks to his perceived electability, not his perceived competence.
Further all the above assumes a competent RNC insider cadre capable of rational calculation in battle w the Ds rather than being utterly consumed by settling internal vendettas by knife as I suggested earlier. Or simply by mutual leopard face eating.
It’s O.K. When A Republican Does It.
I would never want to subject the nation as a whole to the horrors of the Abbott regime I’m forced to live in as a Texan. But if Trump were to die, Abbott makes a lot of sense for the RNC. Vance is preposterous as a Presidential candidate. They need someone Trumpy enough to hold the base – so Haley is right out. He also wouldn’t be burdened by the stench of failure that hangs over Meatball Ron and the other also-rans from the Republican primaries.
He would be relatively new to the national scene which gives him a chance to adjust his stripes.
He would be well positioned to go right at Harris on probably her greatest vulnerability – the Southern border. He can point to the remarkable economic success of Texas (as inequitable as the benefits may be) under his Governorship. But most importantly would probably be his effectively limitless ability to fundraise which would be critical for a campaign just getting started 90 days before the election.
I really can’t imagine they would run J D Vance at the head of their ticket; my sense is that he’s utterly lacking in charisma.
The first thing that would happen is dancing in the streets. I would assume that the RNC would move up Vance to the top spot and he would pick a new veep candidate. But do the states have provisions to allow for the substitution due to death of people on the ballot? Suppose a candidate for US Senate were to die the day before the election. Let’s say he/she is quite popular and would have been a shoo-in. In fact, the dead guy wins the race. Who gets the seat- someone from the corpse’s party? The guy who came in second?
It would vary by state law, but this scenario has already happened in Missouri:
This much I agree with.
Michael Wheatley is the RNC Chairman. He was Elizabeth Dole’s Chief of Staff. Is he really going to argue against what McConnell and Johnson want? Doubt it. And as soon as the three of them agree, it is decided.
Democrats such as here might say that co-chair Lara Trump will scream, creating the proverbial chaos. Knowing that, she would back down. Predicting that the GOP will act the way Democrats hope they will is not a good method of prognostication.
Back when Biden withdrawing was just a topic for discussion, I said that Harris was the only realistic choice to replace him at this point.
The same logic applies now. Vance is the only viable choice if Trump is gone. Anyone else opens the Republicans up to a whole new nomination race - and one with no procedures in place for conducting it.
Well if they handle it anything like they handled the selection process for Speaker of the House the couple-few times they’ve had to fight that out, they should come up with a candidate just in time for 2028.
Given that the America-hating fuckstick’s daughter-in-law is head of the RNC, does anyone think she’ll insist on it being Eric? It would play well with the MAGAts who feel an affinity toward the A-HFS’s love affair with Kim Jong-Un, what with the dynastic succession thing and all.
(Only half serious.)
Once Trump is no longer in the picture, how long does Lara Trump remain co-chair of the RNC?