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| Vice President John Breckinridge, 1860. |
They were John Adams (1796), Thomas Jefferson (1800) and Martin VanBuren (1836). The only sitting vice president to be elected president in the modern era was George H. W. Bush in 1988. And that was more than 35 years ago.
Yes, Richard Nixon and Joe Biden both served as vice president and later became president but they were not serving as vice president when they won. In fact, Nixon lost his bid for the presidency as a sitting vice president in 1960. Other sitting vice presidents in the modern era who failed in their bids to become president include Al Gore (2000) and Hubert Humphrey (1968). Prior to that, Vice President John Breckinridge lost his presidential race to Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
So, the record is not good for sitting vice presidents attempting to be elected president. Since 1836, one of them has succeeded in that effort while four of them have lost. Why is this so? Perhaps the single most important reason is this: while still in office, vice presidents find it hard to break away from the president they are serving and they are often blamed for and burdened with the errors of that president. People also get tired of the team in power and want a change. Kamala Harris, please take note.
