• If the president leaves office, the vice president becomes the president. That person nominates a new vice president.
• So if Joe Biden becomes president and leaves office early, Kamala Harris will become president and nominate a vice president. Nancy Pelosi will not become vice president.
Even though the 2020 presidential election has yet to occur, people are already thinking about what would happen if the newly elected president left office.
"If Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the election but cannot serve his full term, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris would assume the role of president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become vice president," reads a popular Facebook post. "LET THAT SINK IN!"
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) This isn’t how vice presidential succession works.
The post got the first piece right: If the president is impeached, resigns, or is otherwise incapacitated, the vice president becomes president.
"In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President," reads the U.S. Constitution.
This has happened throughout American history. When President Abraham Lincoln died, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became president. When President William McKinley died, Theodore Roosevelt took his place.
But if the vice president becomes president, then what happens to the empty vice presidential slot? It’s not surprising people would be confused by this question. For much of American history, the government didn’t have much of an answer. The vice president simply wasn’t replaced because a process wasn’t codified in the Constitution.
"Our Constitution's framers created the vice presidency almost as an afterthought," explains the U.S. Senate website. "The 20th century began without a vice president. Vice President Garret Hobart had died in November 1899, leaving the office vacant, as it had been on 10 previous occasions for periods ranging from a few months to nearly four years. The nation had gotten along just fine. No one much noticed Hobart’s absence."