A Harris-Newsom presidential ticket? There’s one big legal hurdle: The 12th Amendment

With Joe Biden out of the presidential race and Vice President Kamala Harris the front-runner for the top of the ticket with his endorsement, the “veepstakes” on the Democratic side are kicking into high gear.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorsed Harris as the best choice “to prosecute the case against Donald Trump’s dark vision.”

It was still unclear how Democrats will pick a new nominee. While Newsom and many others rallied around Harris on Sunday, some Democrats could still mount a challenge to the vice president.

Newsom had been named as a potential Democratic nominee or running mate, along with Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

There’s just one problem for a potential Vice President Newsom: the 12th Amendment.

The amendment outlines how presidential electors in the Electoral College cast ballots for the presidential ticket.

It states’ electors “vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.”

While Harris lives at the vice president’s residency at Washington, D.C.’s Naval Observatory, she maintains official residency and is registered to vote in California.

That means a ticket with two California residents would essentially void the state’s 54 electoral votes, according to legal experts.

“If Kamala Harris were the presidential candidate and Gavin Newsom were the vice presidential running mate, the electors couldn’t vote for both of them,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “So that would then create a dilemma, maybe a crisis, for those electors to decide which one of them they would vote for. It might cost the ticket electoral votes.”

For electors “in 49 states and District of Columbia, a Harris-Newsom ticket is not a problem,” said Derek Muller, a professor at Notre Dame Law School. “It’s only a problem in the state of California. It would prohibit California’s electors from voting for both Harris and Newsom.”

Breaking News

President Joe Biden withdrew Sunday from the 2024 presidential race. Read more on this developing story:

→ With Biden out of presidential race, Kamala Harris emerges as front-runner with his endorsement

→ California Gov. Gavin Newsom responds to Joe Biden dropping out. Here’s what he said

→ Why some say Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear would make a great VP candidate

→ With Biden out, what could be next for NC Gov. Roy Cooper?

Democrats have relied heavily on California’s 54 electoral votes in presidential elections for decades. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won in California was in 1988, when George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis.

“Nobody wants to lose California,” Muller said. “That many electors, and especially if the race is close, that could play a huge, a huge role.”

There’s one potential workaround: for one candidate to change their residency. That’s what happened in 2000, when George W. Bush selected Dick Cheney, another Texas resident, to be his running mate.

Cheney moved back to Wyoming that summer, where he had previously lived and represented in Congress, and updated his driver license and voter registration.

“That’s probably unlikely for a sitting governor like Gavin Newsom, but it’s possible that Vice President Harris could reestablish her residency in the District of Columbia,” Muller said.

There’s also the political consideration of two Californians on one ticket.

“There are some prominent Democrats in California, people like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi, who are real boogeymen to the Republicans there,” Burden said. “So loading up on the California image just is probably not the best way for the party to portray itself in a presidential election.”