A terrifying situation is emerging where Vice President Kamala Harris could be president for 10 long, grueling years.
The scenario was originally brought forward in a tweet by former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer and current head of a conservative legal organization Mike Davis who said according to the 22nd Amendment, Harris could become the longest serving president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
“Per the 22nd Amendment, if President Biden leaves office after January 20, 2023, a President Harris could still run for two 4-year terms (10 years total). If Biden left office before then, Harris could only run for one 4-year term (6 years total),” Davis tweeted, adding a link to a Congress.gov site breaking down the 22nd Amendment.
Read it below:
Section 1
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Per the 22nd Amendment, if President Biden leaves office after January 20, 2023, a President Harris could still run for two 4-year terms (10 years total).
If Biden left office before then, Harris could only run for one 4-year term (6 years total).https://t.co/P6SaYiaozK
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) January 11, 2023
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took over as president and served the remaining portion of Kennedy’s term. He then successfully ran for president in 1964 and would have been eligible to run again in 1968, but due to his poor popularity, largely caused by the Vietnam War, he chose not to.
“By contrast, when President Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 over a year after being re-elected in 1972, Vice President Gerald Ford became president and served the last two-plus years of Nixon’s term,” the Western Journal reported.
“Ford ran for election and narrowly lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, but had he won, he would not have been eligible to run again in 1980 because he had already served over two years of Nixon’s term,” they added.
For Harris to be president for 10 years, Biden would need to leave office in the near future and Harris would have to win two elections which both seem improbable.
“As of Jan. 3, 39% of registered voters had a favorable opinion of Harris and 53% had an unfavorable opinion — a net rating of -14 percentage points, according to a Times average. This page will update as new polls arrive. Since taking office, Harris has been assigned one of the administration’s thorniest issues: stemming the influx of immigrants attempting to cross U.S. borders. Republicans have sought to make her the face of an issue that they believe could help them politically,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“Past polls show how the favorability of previous vice presidents changed during their first four years in office. Harris’ net favorability is slightly lower than that of former Vice President Mike Pence at this point in their respective tenures, and it’s well under the ratings of three previous vice presidents,” they continued.