The Importance of Vice Presidents and Running Mates
Who will presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump select for his running mate? Will he pick someone who solidly supports America First, or place more emphasis on selecting someone who will increase his chances of getting back into the White House? The question is hugely important, since whomever Trump selects could become president. As history shows, presidential candidates in the past have at times picked a running mate who holds dissimilar views, only for that running mate to become president.
While the Framers of the Constitution did not anticipate the role of the vice president to be that of a partisan political actor, and definitely had no inkling of the modern concept of a “running mate,” that changed very early in American history with the rise of political parties.
In fact, the delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention devoted very little space in the new U.S. Constitution to the office of vice president. In Article II, which concerns the Executive Branch of the federal government, it was said of the office, “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”
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