What happens if there's a tie?
Winning the election requires 270 electoral votes. It's possible that Harris and Trump could end up in a 268-268 tie. This is called a "contingent election," and according to the Constitution, the House of Representatives chooses the President, with each state delegation getting one vote. This means the 52 representatives from California get one vote, as does the one representative from Wyoming.
The current House has more Republican-majority states than Democratic, but it's the next Congress that will be elected in November that would hold this vote. So if the state delegations are deadlocked 25-25, the Senate would then vote on the Vice-President, who would serve as President until the House elects the new one.
However, if the new Senate is 50-50, they'd be deadlocked too, so the presidency would then go to the Speaker of the House. Get ready for President Mike Johnson. But not so fast, Johnson's current term as Speaker would have ended with the current House, so the new Congress would have to elect a new speaker. It took 15 ballots to elect a Speaker in 2023. If the House is unable to agree on a Speaker, the presidency passes to the Senate President Pro Tem. This is the longest-serving Senator in the majority party. But with a 50-50 Senate, there is no majority party. So the presidency would pass to the next person in line, the Secretary of State, per the Presidential Succession Act.
Cabinet officers' terms don't end with the election; they continue until the next president picks a replacement. So if this happens, we would get Acting President Antony Blinken, the current Secretary of State. If he were unavailable or not interested, the line of succession continues through the various cabinet secretaries in the order their departments were created.
To date, the US has never had a contingent election. No one has succeeded to the presidency other than the vice-president on the president's death or resignation.
The current House has more Republican-majority states than Democratic, but it's the next Congress that will be elected in November that would hold this vote. So if the state delegations are deadlocked 25-25, the Senate would then vote on the Vice-President, who would serve as President until the House elects the new one.
However, if the new Senate is 50-50, they'd be deadlocked too, so the presidency would then go to the Speaker of the House. Get ready for President Mike Johnson. But not so fast, Johnson's current term as Speaker would have ended with the current House, so the new Congress would have to elect a new speaker. It took 15 ballots to elect a Speaker in 2023. If the House is unable to agree on a Speaker, the presidency passes to the Senate President Pro Tem. This is the longest-serving Senator in the majority party. But with a 50-50 Senate, there is no majority party. So the presidency would pass to the next person in line, the Secretary of State, per the Presidential Succession Act.
Cabinet officers' terms don't end with the election; they continue until the next president picks a replacement. So if this happens, we would get Acting President Antony Blinken, the current Secretary of State. If he were unavailable or not interested, the line of succession continues through the various cabinet secretaries in the order their departments were created.
To date, the US has never had a contingent election. No one has succeeded to the presidency other than the vice-president on the president's death or resignation.
