Paul Ryan will run for re-election to his U.S. House seat in Wisconsin, while also running as the Republican nominee for vice-president. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Paul Ryan will run for re-election to his U.S. House seat in Wisconsin, while also running as the Republican nominee for vice-president. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
So how many states are there that allow a person to run for two offices at the same time? I know there used to be an organization out of Houston working to close laws that said a person could ran for two or as many positions as they sought.
Is this normal for incumbents to do in a year that they’re seeking a higher office?
Did Biden do this in 2008?
In most states, you can only run for Pres/VP and a lower office at the same time. For example, you can’t run for congress and state senate during the same time. Most election codes treat the positions of President and Vice-President to be completely separate from the other elections process.
Nick, wouldn’t states group all Federal offices into the same category? That would include Congress as well.
#2, yes, Biden did exactly the same thing in 2008. So did Joe Lieberman in 2000, and Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, and Lyndon Johnson in 1960, and maybe others I have forgotten about or never knew about.
@4-Some states might group all federal offices together in another category, but most states only give that exemption about filing for two offices to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates.
This would be a good campaign strategy for third parties to use. Gary Johnson should run a Libertarian campaign for congress while also running for president. Jill Stein should do the same thing in Massachusetts. Use media attention from running for president to boost the local campaign.
@8 yes it would.
But what would happen if the candidate running for both offices wins both offices?
Oops I meant @7
#8, if Ryan is elected vice-president and re-elected to his US House seat, he then resigns from Congress and Wisconsin holds a special election to fill his empty seat.
In 1960, Lyndon Johnson ran for re-election to the Senate and for Vice-President. In 1988 Sen Lloyd Bentsen, also from Texas, ran for re-election to the Senate and for Vice-President. And in 2000, Sen Joe Lieberman was re-elected to the Senate while losing the Vice-Presidential race with a plurality of the popular vote.
In each of those cases, the candidate ran as a Democrat for both races.
In 1936 Rep William Lemke ran for re-election to Congress as a Republican, while he also campaigned as the Union Party candidate for President.
Of these four, all were re-elected to their seat in the Senate or the House, while LBJ was the only candidate to be elected to the higher office.
#8 In 1960 LBJ was elected Vice President and simultaneously re-elected as US Senator from Texas. In June 1961 John Tower became the first Republican to win election in a statewide race since reconstruction in a special election to fill the senate vacancy.
#1 West Virginia permits legislators to also hold local office.
Texas requires officials to resign if they run for another office mid-term (eg if a candidate had been elected in 2010, for a 4-year term than ran from 2011-2015, they could not run for another office in 2012, unless they resigned their other position.