Vice President of the United States

The Vice President must meet the same qualifications as the President, since the Twelfth Amendment bars anyone constitutionally ineligible for the presidency from the vice presidency. Each party's presidential nominee chooses a running mate, the convention ratifies the choice, and electors cast separate ballots for the two offices. When the vice presidency falls vacant, the Twenty-fifth Amendment lets the President nominate a replacement who takes office on confirmation by a majority of both houses of Congress, as Gerald Ford did in 1973 and Nelson Rockefeller in 1974.

The Vice President's constitutional duties are to preside over the Senate, casting a vote only to break a tie, to preside over the counting of electoral votes, and to succeed the President or serve as acting President during a declared disability. By statute the Vice President sits on the National Security Council, and by custom in the cabinet. The office pays a salary set by law, about 285,000 dollars a year, and comes with the residence at the Naval Observatory, an office in the West Wing, and Secret Service protection.

Nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency on the death or resignation of the President: John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford. Six others were later elected President in their own right. Kamala Harris cast more tie-breaking votes than any predecessor, a sign of how closely divided the Senate had become. The details of the office's staff and evolution are covered under the Office of the Vice President.