If you ask the average person on the street who's next in line if the Vice President passes away, they’ll almost always give you the same confident, wrong answer. "The Speaker of the House!" they'll say. It makes sense, right? We’re taught the line of succession from a young age. President, then VP, then Speaker, then President pro tempore of the Senate. But here’s the thing: that list only matters if the President is the one who dies or leaves office.
If the Vice President dies, the Speaker of the House stays exactly where they are.
They don't move an inch. The office of the Vice Presidency doesn't just automatically "fill up" from the person below it like a water cooler. Instead, the seat sits empty. This is a weird quirk of American history that has actually happened more often than you’d think. In fact, for a huge chunk of our history, the office just stayed vacant until the next election. It wasn't until the 1960s that we finally got tired of leaving the "heartbeat away" seat empty and decided to write some actual rules.
The 25th Amendment: The Real Power Player
Before 1967, if a VP died in office, that was it. The country just didn't have a Vice President for the rest of the term. We went through sixteen different vacancies where the VP spot was totally empty, totaling nearly 38 years of our history. Imagine that today. No tie-breaker in the Senate. No designated successor. Just... a gap.
Then came the 25th Amendment.
Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the government realized that having a massive hole in the line of succession during the Cold War was a recipe for disaster. Section 2 of that amendment changed everything. It states that whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a successor.
But there’s a catch. The President doesn't just get to pick their best friend and call it a day.
The nominee has to be confirmed by a majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It’s basically a high-stakes job interview with the entire US Congress. This is actually the only time the House and Senate both vote on a single individual for an executive position outside of the Electoral College process. Usually, the House has no say in executive appointments—that’s normally the Senate’s playground. Not here.
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How it actually works in the real world
We’ve actually seen this play out. It’s not just a "what if" scenario for political junkies. In 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned. He was Nixon’s VP and was caught up in a tax evasion scandal. Suddenly, Nixon needed a new number two. He picked Gerald Ford, who was then the House Minority Leader. Congress did their thing, voted him in, and Ford became the first person to ever use the 25th Amendment to take the office.
Then things got even weirder.
Nixon resigned because of Watergate. Ford moved up to the Presidency, leaving the VP spot empty again. Ford then nominated Nelson Rockefeller to fill the hole he just left behind. For a brief window in American history, we had both a President and a Vice President who were never actually elected by the people. They were both products of the 25th Amendment.
It worked exactly like the law intended, even if it felt a little strange to the public at the time.
If a Vice President were to pass away tomorrow, the process would trigger immediately. The President would send a name to Capitol Hill. The committees would hold hearings. There would be televised debates. The news cycle would go absolutely nuclear. And until that vote is final, the Speaker of the House would technically be next in line for the Presidency, but they would not be the Vice President.
The "Empty Chair" Problem
You might wonder why we don't just let the Speaker take over immediately.
Separation of powers is the big reason. The Speaker is a legislative leader. Shifting them into the executive branch automatically would create a massive power vacuum in the House and potentially flip the partisan balance of the administration. If the President is a Democrat and the Speaker is a Republican, having the Republican suddenly become the Democratic President's wingman would be a political nightmare.
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The 25th Amendment keeps the power of choice in the hands of the sitting President, ensuring they have someone they can actually work with, while giving Congress the power to veto anyone who is totally unqualified or scandalous.
Why the Speaker stays put
- They have a completely different job description.
- The House needs its leader to function.
- Partisan friction could paralyze the White House.
- The Constitution specifically outlines a nomination process instead.
What happens if the President AND Vice President both die?
This is the "Designated Survivor" scenario everyone loves to talk about. If both the President and Vice President pass away at the same time, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 kicks in. This is where the Speaker of the House finally gets their promotion.
They would resign from the House and become the President of the United States.
They wouldn't be "Acting President"—they would be the President. Once they take the oath, the VP spot is again empty. The new President (formerly the Speaker) would then use the 25th Amendment to nominate their own Vice President. It's like a game of musical chairs where the music is played by the Secret Service and the stakes are global stability.
Misconceptions about the Senate tie-breaker
One of the biggest issues with a vacant Vice Presidency is the Senate. Since the VP serves as the President of the Senate and casts the tie-breaking vote, an empty seat means the Senate can actually get stuck.
If the Senate is split 50-50 and there is no Vice President, a tie vote means the motion fails. There is no one to break it. During those long stretches in the 19th century when the VP spot was empty, this caused some serious legislative gridlock. Today, with how polarized DC is, a vacant VP spot for even a month could mean that no judges get confirmed and no major bills get passed.
The urgency to fill the seat is way higher now than it was when the country was smaller.
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Historical close calls and oddities
We often forget how many VPs didn't make it to the end of their terms. George Clinton (not the funk musician) died in office in 1812. Elbridge Gerry—the guy we named "Gerrymandering" after—died in 1814. William Rufus King died just 45 days into his term in 1853. He actually took the oath of office in Cuba because he was so sick with tuberculosis.
In every single one of those cases, the office just sat there. Empty. Cold.
The President just went about his business without a backup. When Andrew Johnson was impeached, there was no Vice President. If he had been convicted and removed, the President pro tempore of the Senate, Benjamin Wade, would have become President. People actually think Wade's unpopularity is one of the reasons Johnson wasn't removed—senators didn't want Wade in the Oval Office.
Actionable Insights for the Curious Citizen
Understanding the line of succession isn't just for trivia night; it’s about knowing how the gears of power turn when things go wrong. If you want to stay ahead of the curve on this, here is what you should keep an eye on:
- Monitor the 25th Amendment: Any time there is a VP vacancy, Section 2 is your roadmap. Read it. It's short and surprisingly clear for a legal document.
- Watch the Congressional Balance: Since the House and Senate both must confirm a new VP, a "divided government" (where one party controls a chamber and the other the White House) makes the process incredibly difficult. A President might be forced to pick a "centrist" rather than their first choice.
- Check the Presidential Succession Act: This is the 1947 law that lists the order of who takes over the Presidency (Speaker, then Senate President Pro Temp, then Cabinet members). It's separate from the 25th Amendment but works alongside it.
- Follow the "Designated Survivor" during State of the Union: This is the real-world application of these rules. One person stays away in a secure location just in case the worst happens and the entire line of succession is wiped out at once.
The reality is that who becomes vice president if the vice president dies is ultimately "whoever the President picks and Congress accepts." It’s a political process, not a mathematical one. It requires consensus, hearings, and a whole lot of voting. The system is designed to be slow and deliberate to make sure the person who is one heartbeat away from the most powerful job in the world is someone the country can actually stomach.
It’s a safeguard. A clunky, slow, bureaucratic safeguard that has only been fully tested a couple of times, but it’s the only thing standing between a functioning government and a total leadership vacuum.
Key Takeaways
- The Speaker of the House does not automatically become VP.
- The President must nominate a new VP under the 25th Amendment.
- Both the House and Senate must confirm the nominee by a majority vote.
- The office stays vacant until the confirmation process is complete.
- Historically, the office has been vacant for nearly 38 years in total across US history.
By understanding that the VP spot is filled by appointment rather than succession, you're already ahead of most of the population. It's one of those rare parts of the Constitution that is actually quite straightforward once you cut through the myths.