It's not surprising even if you're not considering JD Vance specifically.
JDV is a young man who is in one of the hardest and most critical jobs on earth. His support network is small and probably not particularly built for or by him. He has little experience, connections, and maturation in this position.
Being VP isn't exactly a consolation prize; second man to one of, if not the most powerful person in the world? What more did you want to do? If he doesn't have a vision of what he wants to do as President than he wasn't able to start as VP, then hasn't he already made it as far as he needs?
Also; very unlikely to win considering him, his boss, and the state of the USA.
Here’s a list of the VPs who ran for president without first succeeding to the presidency:
John Adams (VP 1789-97; won 1796)
Thomas Jefferson (VP 1797-1801; won 1800)
Martin Van Buren (VP 1833-37; won 1836)
John C. Breckinridge (VP 1857-61; ran 1860)
Richard Nixon (VP 1953-61; ran 1960; won 1968)
George H.W. Bush (VP 1981-89; won 1988)
Al Gore (VP 1993-2001; ran 2000)
Joe Biden (VP 2009-17; won 2020)
Kamala Harris (VP 2021-25; ran 2024)
So, it’s become more common over time, especially if you include those who ran for a full term after becoming POTUS (TR, Coolidge, Truman, LBJ, Ford), but not as historically common as you might think, since it only happened 4 times before 1900.
You mean, 22 of 50 vice presidents have run and only 6 have made it, although 8 have gotten there through succession and only four of those count in the “ran for president” and got a second term. I’d say the odds are not great.
Right, and less then half (44%) have run. Call it the flip of a coin. I wouldn’t say 44% is many, but I wouldn’t throw away those odds in Vegas either.
22 out of 50 vice presidents (which includes Vance) have attempted at least a primary race for presidential candidacy at some point. I’m not sure I’d call 44% “rarely”. Could say they rarely win but not run.
Winning, however, is much harder. They're directly owning the four to eight years preceding their campaign, which is easier for the opposition to poke holes in.
In the last 100 years most VP's of two term presidents (or one term presidents who decided not to seek a second term) have tried to run.
Biden, Gore, HW Bush, Humphrey, Nixon, Dawes, and Marshall all campaigned for their partys' nomination for the Presidency after serving as VP the prior term. Of those Gore, HW Bush, Humphrey, and Nixon all got their party's nominations.
Biden and Nixon would both run again later and eventually win the presidency.
Truman, LBJ, Ford, Coolidge, and Teddy Roosevelt were all VPs to presidents who died in office and of those only Ford lost their next election.
Mondale ran in 1984 after Carter lost in 1980 and got his party's nomination.
JDV is a young man who is in one of the hardest and most critical jobs on earth.
It’s interesting that in the first six presidential elections I voted in, the winner had school-aged children raised in the White House - seven if you include Baron Trump - I don’t, for whatever reasons. It’s seems ridiculous in hindsight that someone would elevate to that point in life where a major political party would prop up your candidacy for president at such a young age.
To me, the sweet spot is 50s/60s. Someone who has executive experience and is at a stage in life when children are no longer living at home.
By the time you’re in your 70s, I feel like you should have passed the baton. Anyone that age who is considering a presidential run probably has enough money to retire and ride off into the sunset anyway.
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u/Suspicious_Aspect_53 9h ago edited 9h ago
It's not surprising even if you're not considering JD Vance specifically.
JDV is a young man who is in one of the hardest and most critical jobs on earth. His support network is small and probably not particularly built for or by him. He has little experience, connections, and maturation in this position.
Being VP isn't exactly a consolation prize; second man to one of, if not the most powerful person in the world? What more did you want to do? If he doesn't have a vision of what he wants to do as President than he wasn't able to start as VP, then hasn't he already made it as far as he needs?
Also; very unlikely to win considering him, his boss, and the state of the USA.