The difference between how Republicans and Democrats pick their veeps

Sarah Palin and Joe Biden
(Image credit: Paul J. Richards/Getty Images)

The Democratic Party likes to see senators tapped for vice president. In fact, if this year's VP candidate hails from the Senate, Democrats will have chosen senators in 16 out of 17 elections going back to 1948. (The one exception was 1972, when George McGovern named former Ambassador Sargent Shriver to replace his first choice, who was — you guessed it — a senator.)

Republicans have no such affinity for the Senate. Six of their veep picks since 1964 were former members of the House of Representatives, and three were governors (Spiro Agnew twice and Sarah Palin once). The GOP also went with a senator in three elections (Dan Quayle in 1988 and 1992 and Bob Dole in 1976).

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.