Trump Coronavirus (CV in US Politics)

Wait, what, surely if the President elect died before inauguration their running mate would just be sworn in on 20 Jan?

The running mate isn't running for President, nor would s/he be sworn in as anything at that point. The obvious exception is if Trump wins, then dies sometime in December, Pence would be sworn in - at least temporarily since he's already VP. If Biden wins, then dies in December, I don't think Harris would be sworn in.
 
The running mate isn't running for President, nor would s/he be sworn in as anything at that point. The obvious exception is if Trump wins, then dies sometime in December, Pence would be sworn in. If Biden wins, then dies in December, I don't think Harris would be sworn in.
Although certainly there would be legal challenges and would probably require a decision by the Supreme Court, I think that the VP-elect being sworn in a President is still the most likely outcome of a hypothetical death of the President-elect.
 
The running mate isn't running for President, nor would s/he be sworn in as anything at that point. The obvious exception is if Trump wins, then dies sometime in December, Pence would be sworn in - at least temporarily since he's already VP. If Biden wins, then dies in December, I don't think Harris would be sworn in.

20th Amendment:

Section 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President.
 
The running mate isn't running for President, nor would s/he be sworn in as anything at that point. The obvious exception is if Trump wins, then dies sometime in December, Pence would be sworn in. If Biden wins, then dies in December, I don't think Harris would be sworn in.

I think the logical process would be that since Harris is elected VP and there is no President, she would proceed to the presidency.

 
Although certainly there would be legal challenges and would probably require a decision by the Supreme Court, I think that the VP-elect being sworn in a President is still the most likely outcome of a hypothetical death of the President-elect.

I'm sure that would be litigated to death since VPs are specifically elected to be VPs for the President that selected them and then was elected. If that President never gets inaugurated into office (using the "if Biden dies in December" example), it would be hard to put Harris in since she wasn't yet sworn in as a VP at the time of death.
 
20th Amendment:
Not that simple sadly.

The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that if the president-elect dies, the rules of succession apply, and the vice-president-elect becomes the president-elect. Unfortunately, it's not clear when in the process a winning candidate becomes president-elect.

The winning candidate definitely assumes the title president-elect after Jan. 6, when Congress officially counts the Electoral College votes and declares a winner. But a winning presidential candidate has never died before being inaugurated, so Congress has never had to define president-elect.

If the winning presidential candidate dies between Dec. 15 but before Jan. 6, Congress would have to decide whether to count the votes cast for them. If Congress chooses to validate the votes, the laws of presidential succession are carried out, and the winning candidate's vice president becomes president-elect. If Congress chooses not to validate the votes, however, the question will be whether the living candidate has a majority of the overall electoral votes. If they don't, then the 12th Amendment says the House of Representatives must elect the president from among the three candidates with the most votes.

In a two-person race, then, the breathing candidate wins.
 
I'm sure that would be litigated to death since VPs are specifically elected to be VPs for the President that selected them and then was elected. If that President never gets inaugurated into office (using the "if Biden dies in December" example), it would be hard to put Harris in since she wasn't yet sworn in as a VP at the time of death.

Except that’s exactly what would happen, read the above posts re the 20th amendment.

Could this potentially delay or push back the date of the election?

No.
 
Except that’s exactly what would happen, read the above posts re the 20th amendment.

This only applies after the electoral college meet in mid December (Dec 14th to be precise). If it happens before, then it doesn't apply and I believe the party can literally nominate a replacement President-elect.
 

It seems utterly insane that the wording in the amendment of:

“ If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.” (Bold added by me)

Could mean anything other than the election having been carried out. Congress surely can’t just refuse to count votes. The running mate has been elected to VP.

American election law is so fecking dumb.
 
It seems utterly insane that the wording in the amendment of:

“ If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.” (Bold added by me)

Could mean anything other than the election having been carried out. Congress surely can’t just refuse to count votes. The running mate has been elected to VP.

American election law is so fecking dumb.
Regarding your point (coloured), it's the electoral college that chooses the President, not the people. That's pretty well established in US law. It would all end up in court/ civil war if the worst happened.
 
 
Regarding your point (coloured), it's the electoral college that chooses the President, not the people. That's pretty well established in US law. It would all end up in court/ civil war if the worst happened.
Maybe this'll finally get enough people to realise the EC is insane. I mean obviously it won't, but I can hope.
 
This is going to be a crazy month

Will be interesting to see the Republican mask behaviour after this. Though saying that, it doesn't seem to have made much difference even now as the Prez is holed up for 2 weeks.
 
Must be more than just minor symptons as the fecker hasn't been on twitter for over 12 hours.