Can the vice president run for president?
Yes. The vice president faces the same eligibility requirements as any other candidate: natural-born citizen, age 35+, 14 years U.S. residency. There is no rule preventing a VP from running for president.
Nothing in the Constitution prevents a sitting or former vice president from running for president. VPs have run for and won the presidency many times in U.S. history - most recently George H.W. Bush in 1988 and before him Richard Nixon in 1968.
The 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two elected terms, applies only to the office of president, not to the vice presidency. A vice president who has served two terms as VP faces no constitutional barrier to running for president.
However, if a vice president previously served as president - for example, by ascending to the office after a president's death or resignation - the time served as president counts toward the two-term limit. A VP who served more than two years as an unelected president and then served a full elected term could be barred from a second elected term.
The vice presidency is often viewed as a launching pad for presidential campaigns. Incumbency within the administration provides fundraising advantages, national name recognition, and policy credentials, though VPs also inherit any unpopularity of the sitting president.
Related questions
Can a VP run against the sitting president in a primary?
Does the VP automatically become the frontrunner for their party?
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Related explainers
To be eligible, a person must be a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, and have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.
Probably not. The 12th Amendment bars anyone constitutionally ineligible to be president from serving as vice president, and the 22nd Amendment makes Trump ineligible for the presidency.
The 22nd Amendment limits the president to two elected terms. Ratified in 1951, it bars any person from being elected president more than twice.
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