Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, hope to use Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate to bolster their respective running mates’ chances in November. Facing a yawning favorability gap with Walz, Vance is readying via both traditional mock debates — with Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., standing in for Walz — and the constant back-and-forth Vance keeps up with reporters on the trail.
But as vice president, Vance would have to be ready for one main task: assuming the presidency. It is a duty that nine vice presidents before him have had to fulfill. It is also a possibility we need to discuss given that if Donald Trump returns to the White House, he would be the oldest person ever sworn in as president. Unfortunately, Vance is in no way ready to step in should Trump be no longer able to function as president.
But as vice president, Vance would have to be ready for one main task: assuming the presidency.
It’s true that the vice presidency itself was originally something of an afterthought for the country’s founders. They tasked the vice president with presiding over the Senate only to give the role something concrete to do besides be a backup executive. But Article II, which supposedly lays out what happens if a vacancy occurs in the presidency, isn’t crystal clear: It says only “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President.”
Follow live updates covering the 2024 vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz.
The lack of specificity was a problem from its first major test, when President William Henry Harrison died in 1841 after just 31 days in office. The question that Vice President John Tyler faced was whether he would be an “acting” or “temporary” president, one who merely took on the tasks of the presidency, or would he succeed to the office himself. Tyler decided on the latter, immediately taking the presidential oath of office. And though he was never a popular chief executive, nobody seemed inclined to challenge this new precedent regarding presidential succession.
In modern times, the vice president’s role has grown beyond the constitutional duties assigned to include whatever policy portfolios the president delegates. But the essential duty remains stepping into the presidency if required. It’s almost certain that the debate moderators will ask Vance and Walz whether they feel up to the job at some point during the debate.
Of course, both candidates will say “yes” if they are asked; what matters is how many viewers believe their answers. And looking at the experience the two candidates have, there’s much more evidence to support Walz’s readiness than that of Vance. The Democrat is in his second term as governor of Minnesota, giving him years of practice running an executive office. Before that, he spent 12 years in the House, getting an up-close look at how the federal government functions and the way the legislative sausage gets made.
In contrast, Vance is in just his second year as an elected official. He has passed no major legislation, and several of those bills that he has submitted have had no co-sponsors at all. Before winning his seat in 2022, he was an author and a Silicon Valley gadabout and served four years in the Marines, mostly as a war correspondent.
This makes Vance the least experienced vice presidential candidate since then-Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska was tapped to join the GOP ticket in 2008. The public was deeply skeptical of Palin’s readiness to lead after less than two years as governor, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll taken the day Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chose her as his running mate. Of those surveyed, 39% said she was “ready to serve as president if needed,” with 33% saying she wasn’t and 29% having “no opinion” about the then-unknown governor. At the time, that was “the lowest vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988,” according to ABC News.
Despite this, if elected Vance could very well become the latest vice president to ascend to the Oval Office in the middle of an administration. Incredibly, Vance has managed to beat that record. According to a late July poll from YouGov, only 29% of respondents believed Vance ready to serve as president, with 38% percent saying he isn’t and another 33% unsure. Vance performed slightly better in YouGov’s August poll — climbing to 30% who thought he’s ready — but still trailed Walz on that front. Despite this, if elected Vance could very well become the latest vice president to ascend to the Oval Office in the middle of an administration. It’s true that Trump himself had never served in office and held almost no experience to become president when he was inaugurated in 2017. But after four years in the White House, even he has more qualifications than Vance. It’s even more striking when you consider Vice President Kamala Harris’ résumé. She’s spent her entire career in public service, going from being San Francisco’s district attorney to attorney general of California to a four-year senator before her current place a heartbeat away from the presidency. President Joe Biden’s quick endorsement of her after he dropped out speaks to his confidence in her. Meanwhile, when Trump was asked whether Vance could step into his shoes “on day one, if necessary,” the former president changed the topic entirely to be about himself. And yet even with that massive gap in their experience, when Harris took over the top of the ticket in late July, Vance claimed to be upset he wouldn’t be facing her himself. “Talk about take-backs,” he said. “I was told I was going to get to debate Kamala Harris, and now President Trump’s going to get to debate her. I’m kind of pissed off about that if I’m being honest with you.” That’s a level of self-regard that I couldn’t even begin to muster. Can you imagine, seeing how well Harris handled Trump while arguing to become the next president, how thoroughly she would have dismantled Vance in an undercard event? Instead, we’ll have to settle for Walz’s performance on Tuesday, as he makes clear that only one person on that stage can be trusted to take on the second-highest office in the land.
Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He focuses on politics and policymaking at the federal level, including Congress and the White House. 
