The qualifications for vice president of the United States are the same three the Constitution sets for the presidency: you must be a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. The Twelfth Amendment makes the link explicit by declaring that anyone constitutionally ineligible for the presidency is also ineligible for the vice presidency.1Congress.gov. Twelfth Amendment A handful of other constitutional provisions can disqualify someone who meets those three baseline tests.
The Three Baseline Requirements
Article II lists the qualifications for the presidency, and the Twelfth Amendment extends them to the vice presidency.2Constitution Annotated. Article II Section 1 Clause 5 – Qualifications They are the only affirmative qualifications in the document. There is no education requirement, no wealth threshold, no requirement of prior government experience, and no requirement to belong to a political party.
The 14-year residency does not have to be consecutive. It refers to the total time the person has lived within the country. The age requirement applies at the time the person would take office, not at the time of nomination or election. Both are straightforward. The citizenship requirement is the one that has generated real debate.
One point often gets misunderstood: the Constitution does not bar convicted felons from the office. Article II lists citizenship, age, and residency, and criminal history is not among them.2Constitution Annotated. Article II Section 1 Clause 5 – Qualifications Some federal statutes impose office-holding bans for specific offenses like rebellion under 18 U.S.C. ยง 2383, but those overlap with the Fourteenth Amendment bar rather than creating an independent constitutional disqualification. A person convicted of an ordinary felony remains constitutionally eligible to run for and serve as vice president.
What “Natural-Born Citizen” Means
The Constitution never defines the phrase, and no court has definitively settled it for presidential or vice-presidential eligibility. Legal scholars broadly agree the term describes someone who was a U.S. citizen at birth and did not need to naturalize later.3Constitution Annotated. ArtII.S1.C5.1 Qualifications for the Presidency A person born on U.S. soil clearly qualifies.
The harder question is whether the term reaches people born abroad to U.S. citizen parents. Most constitutional scholars say yes. British statutes from 1709 and 1731 described children of British subjects born overseas as “natural born citizens,” and the Framers drew heavily on British legal tradition. Congress reinforced the reading almost immediately: the Naturalization Act of 1790 declared that children born abroad to U.S. citizens “shall be considered as natural born citizens.”3Constitution Annotated. ArtII.S1.C5.1 Qualifications for the Presidency The question has surfaced in several presidential campaigns but has never produced a definitive Supreme Court ruling, so a narrow legal challenge remains theoretically possible.
Disqualifications That Bar an Otherwise Qualified Person
Meeting the three baseline tests is necessary but not always sufficient. Two constitutional provisions can strip someone of eligibility for federal office, and both reach the vice presidency through the Twelfth Amendment.
Impeachment Disqualification by the Senate
When the Senate convicts someone in an impeachment trial, it can take a separate vote to permanently bar that person from holding any federal office.4Constitution Annotated. Article I Section 3 Clause 7 – Impeachment Judgments Conviction alone produces removal from the current office. Disqualification is an additional penalty that requires its own vote, and the Senate has imposed it three times in U.S. history, all against federal judges. Once imposed, the disqualification is permanent. The Constitution provides no mechanism for Congress to reverse it.
The Fourteenth Amendment Insurrection Bar
Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment bars anyone from federal or state office who previously swore an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion, or gave aid or comfort to those who did.5Constitution Annotated. Fourteenth Amendment Section 3 – Disqualification From Holding Office The provision was written after the Civil War to keep former Confederate officials out of power, but its text is not limited to that era. It applies to anyone who held a covered office, took the constitutional oath, and later acted against the government.
Unlike impeachment disqualification, this disability is not necessarily permanent. Congress can remove it by a two-thirds vote of each chamber.5Constitution Annotated. Fourteenth Amendment Section 3 – Disqualification From Holding Office Congress used that power extensively during Reconstruction to restore eligibility for former Confederates, and it passed broad amnesty acts in 1872 and 1898 lifting the disability for most of those affected.
Can a Two-Term President Serve as Vice President?
This is the most contested eligibility question in constitutional law, and it has never been tested. The Twenty-Second Amendment says no person can be “elected” president more than twice.6Congress.gov. Twenty-Second Amendment The critical word is “elected.” Some scholars argue that because the amendment only restricts being elected president, a two-term former president could still serve as vice president, and even assume the presidency through succession, without violating the text. Under that reading, the amendment limits elections, not the ability to hold the office itself.
The opposing argument leans on the Twelfth Amendment’s rule that anyone ineligible for the presidency is also ineligible for the vice presidency.1Congress.gov. Twelfth Amendment If a two-term president cannot be elected president again, and the Twelfth Amendment bars ineligible people from the vice presidency, then a two-term president arguably cannot serve as vice president either. Constitutional scholars have noted that the stronger view is likely that once a president has hit the term limits of the Twenty-Second Amendment, they are ineligible for either office. Without a court ruling or an actual attempt to put a two-term president on a ticket, the question stays open.
The Same-State Elector Restriction
The Twelfth Amendment also puts a geographic constraint on presidential tickets. Electors must vote for a president and a vice president, at least one of whom is not an inhabitant of the elector’s own state.1Congress.gov. Twelfth Amendment In practice, a state’s electoral votes cannot go to a ticket where both candidates live in that state. The restriction does not bar same-state tickets from winning nationally, but it would cost that ticket the state’s electoral votes if neither candidate relocated.
This has real consequences during campaigns. When a presidential nominee selects a running mate from the same state, one of them typically changes official residency beforehand. The restriction does not require deep roots elsewhere. Being an “inhabitant” of a different state at the time electors cast their votes is enough.
Sitting Members of Congress
A senator or representative can run for vice president and win. The Incompatibility Clause in Article I says no person holding a federal office can be a member of either chamber of Congress during their time in that office.7Constitution Annotated. Incompatibility Clause and Congress That is not a qualification bar. It simply means a member of Congress elected to the vice presidency must resign the congressional seat before taking the oath of the new office. The clause prevents dual service, not dual candidacy.