Can a sitting vice president win election to the presidency? Not very often

Since the beginning of the USA, 15 of the nation’s 49 vice presidents have become president. Another five, including  Kamala Harris, tried and failed.

Kamala Harris, however, tried to do something that has been done only twice before in American history.

She tried to move directly from the vice presidency to the presidency upon the retirement of the president she served.

Well, actually, it has been done four times, but the first two VPs to move up to President did so under a different system in which the vice president had more prestige. John Adams became the nation’s first VP by finishing second in the presidential election of George Washington, and he then succeeded Washington as president. Thomas Jefferson, similarly, finished second to Adams and automatically became Adams’s vice-president before winning the presidency himself.

The only two VPs who did exactly what Harris tried to do were Martin Van Buren and George H.W. Bush. One other vice president, Joe Biden, was elected president after a four-year gap term.

Van Buren stepped directly from the vice presidency to the presidency by election in 1836. He had been Andrew Jackson’s VP when Jackson decided not to seek a third term. Van Buren ran for the office and won.

A century and a half later, George H. W. Bush did the same thing. He had been Ronald Reagan’s VP for two terms when Reagan was required to step down due to the two-term limitation. Bush ran for the job and won.  

It turns out that of all the paths leading to the presidency while serving as vice president, the one that seems the most obvious — winning election to the job while still serving as VP — is one of the most difficult to navigate.

Vice President Richard Nixon failed in his attempt to succeed his retiring boss, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1960, but successfully won the presidency when he tried again in 1968. Nixon is the only vice president to score a comeback win after losing in his first attempt.

Nixon, in fact, won two successive terms as President in 1968 and 1972, while Van Buren and George H. W. Bush lost their bids for a second term.

Putting aside the self-induced troubles that forced Nixon to resign early in his second term — that is a whole different subject — and considering how hard it is for a VP to win election to the presidency . . .

Do not be surprised to see Kamala Harris make another run for president.

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