2020 United States vice presidential confirmation

Dean of the U.S. House Jay Dietrich was chosen to be the 49th Vice President of the United States.

In 2019, Republican President Arnold Wolf resigned due to his deteriorating medical and health condition. Then-Vice President Richard Tawney assumed the Presidency. Under the terms of the 25th Amendment, a vice presidential vacancy is filled when the president nominates a candidate who is confirmed by both houses of Congress. President Tawney thus had the task of selecting a vice president who could receive the majority support of both houses of Congress, one of which (the U.S. House of Representatives) was controlled by the Democrats.

President Tawney is said to have considered a number of candidates, including the Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Laura Dunn of Iowa, Representative Diane Paulson of Maine and Secretary of State Arthur Uruqhart of Kentucky before deciding to nominate the Dean of the House Jay Dietrich of Alaska on February 20, 2020. A veteran legislator, Representative Dietrich's nomination was quickly met with bipartisan support.

Three months would pass before both chambers of Congress took up the vice presidential nomination in early May. In the interim, Republican Governor of South Dakota, James Burgun attempted to use the nomination process to force concessions from the President, saying that his allies in Congress should refuse to vote in favor of Jay Dietrich's nomination unless President Tawney agreed to change the immigration policy in relation to foreign workers. This declaration was met with wide-spread condemnation, leading Richard Tawney to nickname the Governor "Slimy Jimmy".

Eventually, Jay Joseph Dietrich was confirmed by wide margins in both houses of Congress and officially sworn in on May 7, 2020 by Justice [not-Gorsuch] during a ceremony hosted in the White House Rose Garden.

Confirmation Votes

By a vote of 97 to 3, the United States Senate confirmed Jay Dietrich as Vice President on April 20, 2020. Four days later, the United States House of Representatives gave it's approval with 376 to 42.

2020 U.S. Senate Vice presidential confirmation vote:	Party		Total votes
	Democratic	Republican
Yes	45	51	96  (7001970000000000000♠97%)
No	3	0	3  (7000300000000000000♠3%)
Result: Confirmed

2020 U.S. House Vice presidential confirmation vote:	Party		Total votes
	Democratic	Republican
Yes	191	189	380  (7001909000000000000♠90.9%)
No	38	0	38  (7000910000000000000♠9.1%)
Result: Confirmed