As Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to announce her running mate, several considerations will go into who will join her on the Democratic ticket, with one of them being what happens if one of the finalists gets elected vice president in November.
With Harris’s term as vice president ending as the next presidential term begins, there would be no vacant offices needing to be filled if she defeats former President Donald Trump, but among the three presumed finalists to be her running mate, there would be an unexpired term each man would be abandoning. Here is what would happen if Harris picks each of them and proceeds to win the election.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA)
If Shapiro is elected vice president he would give up the governorship of Pennsylvania, which he was elected to in 2022.
Pennsylvania’s Constitution stipulates that the remainder of Shapiro’s term would be served by Democratic Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who was elected alongside Shapiro two years ago. Davis’s term would expire on Jan. 18, 2027, when the winner of the 2026 gubernatorial election is sworn into office.
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN)
Walz, a two-term governor in Minnesota, would be giving up the governorship of the North Star State if he is elected vice president on Harris’s ticket.
The Minnesota Constitution says that when a vacancy occurs in the governorship, “from any cause whatever,” the lieutenant governor would be elevated to governor and the president of the state Senate would be elevated to lieutenant governor for the remainder of the term.
If Walz is elected to the vice presidency, Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would become governor and Democratic state Senate President Bobby Joe Champion would become lieutenant governor. Both Flanagan and Champion’s terms would expire on Jan. 4, 2027, when the winners of the 2026 elections would take office.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
Kelly, the lone U.S. senator considered a finalist to be Harris’s running mate, would be giving up a Senate seat representing the Grand Canyon State he was first elected to in a special election in 2020. The former astronaut replaced the late Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018, winning the special election and the regular election two years later.
If Kelly is elected vice president, Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) would appoint a replacement to fill the Senate seat until a special election can be held in 2026 for the remaining part of the term, which would expire on Jan. 3, 2029.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Should Kelly resign from his seat, it would mean that Arizonans will go to the polls to vote for a senator for every even year from 2016 through 2030.
Harris is expected to make her decision on who her running mate is before a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tuesday evening, where she will hold her first rally with her vice presidential nominee.