We do not know that Vice President Kamala Harris Or former President Trump will win the White House this fall.
But there are two things we do know:
The 2024 presidential election is set to be a tight one. And no matter who the winner is, Harris will co-preside, win or lose, when the House and Senate convene a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2025, to certify the Electoral College results.
He is required to do so.
The House and Senate will convene a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2025, to certify whether the 2024 presidential election was won by Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images | Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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The House and Senate meet once every four years for the electoral vote on January 6. That is why this date was so controversial four years ago. It turned into a riot and emerged as one of the ugliest days in American history. What would normally have been a dull, ceremonial affair to tabulate and sign off on electoral votes on January 6 invariably emerges as a major national security event – along the lines of the State of the Union. And whether you like it or not, the potential controversy over the certification process next January 6 could gain momentum from the fact that Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee and will be on stage for her win or loss.
This scenario is just another radiating political isotope, further aggravating our already volatile political environment. It also doesn’t help that on January 6, 2025, Congress will meet for the first time since the catastrophe of nearly four years ago to certify the Electoral College. This is further aggravated by the fact that Trump will either officially win or lose on that day.
The vice president presides over joint sessions of Congress along with the speaker of the House. Under the Constitution, the vice president also serves as president of the Senate—the only leader mentioned in the Constitution in the case of the Senate. Joint sessions of Congress are special parliamentary events. Congress convenes only to hear the president’s State of the Union address and to certify the Electoral College results.
The Vice President sometimes avoids joint sittings of Congress (note the slight difference). They look similar, but they are not. Both bodies of Congress assemble in the House chamber for a joint meeting. Those circumstances are reserved for lawmakers to welcome a foreign dignitary. Notably, Harris did not preside over a joint meeting of Congress for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Last month.
However, the Speaker of the House always presides as the head person of that body—and is a constitutional officer of the legislative branch of government.
Protesters loyal to President Trump rally at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
We don’t know who will appear on stage with Harris for the Electoral College certification next year. That depends on which party wins the House. According to the Constitution, the new Congress will begin at noon on Jan. 3 and must first elect a speaker. If Republicans retain control, it will likely be House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. If Democrats win the House, they are expected to choose House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., as speaker.
Certification of the electoral vote is scheduled for January 6. This gives the new Congress a few days to prepare after it begins on January 3. In addition, Congress is tasked with certifying the election on January 6, so as to have ample time to prepare for the president’s swearing-in: noon on January 20.
It is not a new thing for a Vice President to join this game and occupy the President’s chair. electoral College Certification of a joint session of Congress. Vice President Richard Nixon presided over his re-election with President Dwight Eisenhower at the January 1957 joint session. Nixon was also vice president for the January 1961 session, in which he saw himself lose to President John F. Kennedy. Vice President Hubert Humphrey was the Democratic nominee in 1968. So he co-presided over the joint session in January 1969, when Nixon finally ascended to the presidency.
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Speaking of Minnesota, Vice President Walter Mondale presided over the defeat of President Jimmy Carter and himself at the hands of President Ronald Reagan in a 1981 joint session. Future President George H.W. Bush was present for the re-election of Reagan and himself in January 1985. As vice president, Bush presided over his victory as president in January 1989. However, things were not as pleasant for former Vice President Dan Quayle four years later. Quayle co-presided over the defeat of Bush and himself at the hands of President Bill Clinton in a January 1993 joint session.
Vice President Al Gore was on stage in January 1997 to celebrate Clinton’s and his own re-election. But four years later, Gore found himself in a particularly awkward position on stage. Gore presided over the 2000 election, his loss to President George W. Bush in 2001, one of the most controversial elections in American history. During the joint session, a parade of members of the Congressional Black Caucus tried to challenge the slate of electoral votes from Florida — which Gore famously lost. However, no member of the House had a Senate co-sponsor to challenge Florida’s vote.
Joe Biden presided over the Electoral College certification for President Barack Obama’s re-election in January 2013. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Rep. Maxine Waters, D.C.-Calif., was one of those pushing for a debate on Florida electors. Gore asked Waters if she had any Senate petitioners.
Waters replied that he did not care, nor did he care.
Gore interrupted Waters’s speech with a generous remark, which drew applause from the crowd.
“The rules care,” Gore said.
Vice President Dick Cheney was there to vote for Bush 43 and himself for re-election in January 2005. However, there was a genuine challenge to Ohio’s slate of electors by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio.
Biden Biden then returned to the vice presidency, presiding over President Barack Obama’s re-election in January 2013. And when Donald Trump won in January 2017, Biden helped oversee affairs.
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And of course, we all now know the efforts Trump loyalists made to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, 2021.
Things will be a little different in January 2025. In late 2022, Congress adopted major changes to the old, 19th-century Electoral Count Act, which governed the electoral certification process. One of the biggest changes: a clarification that the vice president’s role is merely ceremonial. Lawmakers wanted to make it clear that the vice president does not have the power to accept or reject certain slates of electors. In addition, the new law makes it harder for lawmakers to challenge a state’s electoral slate. Previously, only one House member and one senator were needed to join a petition. The current statute raises the bar to one-fifth of each house to challenge a state’s electoral ballots.
So — win or lose — Harris has no significant role to play other than making an appearance.
But his presence on the ballot as the Democratic flag-bearer, determining his own election or defeat, intensifies the nature of that action, especially after what we saw four years ago.
