Yes, it’s possible for Trump to change his running mate before Election Day

On Aug. 23, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican former President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. 

Trump has given no public indication that he is considering replacing JD Vance as his running mate, but as the speculation grows, VERIFY looked into whether or not it would theoretically be possible.

THE QUESTION

Is it possible for Trump to change his running mate before Election Day?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

Yes, it is possible for Trump to change his running mate before Election Day. However, Vance would have to voluntarily step down before Trump and the Republican Party could replace him as vice president.

WHAT WE FOUND

The Republican Party rules allow the party’s ticket to change after the national convention, but only if there is a vacancy on the ticket. If Vance was replaced, it wouldn’t be the first time in the modern history of the Republican and Democratic parties that a candidate changed their running mate following their party’s national convention.

Rule 9 of the Rules of the Republican Party authorizes the Republican National Committee to fill “any and all” vacancies which may occur “by reason of death, declination, or otherwise” of the Republican candidate for president or vice president of the United States. For example, a “vacancy” on the ticket could occur if J.D. Vance voluntarily stepped down.

The same rule also gives the Republican National Committee the authority to reconvene the Republican National Convention to fill any such vacancies if it so chooses.

So that gives the Republican Party two methods for replacing a presidential candidate’s running mate: the Republican National Committee can just select a new one, or the party can go through a second convention nominating process.

The last time either party changed its candidate for vice president was in 1972.

Thomas Eagleton was selected as Democratic nominee George McGovern’s running mate during the 1972 Democratic National Convention, according to UC Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project.

But Eagleton resigned from the ticket about three weeks later after his record of past psychiatric treatments became public, according to the CQ Almanac.

The Democratic National Committee selected Robert Sargent Shriver as Eagleton’s replacement at a special Aug. 8 meeting held by the DNC.

As for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the rules for today’s Democratic Party also allow for the selection of a new vice president following the party’s convention, although with little detail on the process. Those rules state that “filling vacancies in the nominations for the office of President and Vice President” are among the responsibilities of the Democratic National Committee.