Veeps, Gerrymanders, and More
Veeply Roundup
Gerrymandering is in the news, but it has a lesser-known vice presidential angle. Read on…
Also, Vance did some diplomacy, the Lt. Governors of New York and Florida are caught up in political feuds, and the vice president of Myanmar died.
It’s your Veeply Roundup… enjoy!
A Vice Presidential Legacy
Our fifth vice president, a political journeyman selected for geographic balance, died in office. Nonetheless Elbridge Gerry left his mark on American politics.
Scion of a wealthy merchant family in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Gerry worked closely with Sam Adams during the revolutionary period, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He attended the Constitutional Convention where he argued against counting slaves for the Electoral College (he opposed slavery.) He was one of three attendees to vote against ratifying the Constitution because it did not enumerate individual rights. He was a member of the first House of Representatives. Overall, Gerry was a political moderate, with good friends in both the emerging Federalist and Democratic-Republican camps. He feared an overly powerful government and a weak one that could not prevent disorder. As a businessman, he could side with Federalists on commercial issues; but ultimately, he became a Democratic-Republican. In 1810 he was elected governor of Massachusetts. He was re-elected in 1811 and then was defeated when he ran for his third one-year term.
In difficult financial straits after he lost the Massachusetts election, Gerry appealed to President Madison for a patronage position. Madison’s vice president George Clinton of New York had died in office (he had also been Jefferson’s second VP.)
It seems unusual to put a failed governor on the ticket, but in the context of the time, it made perfect sense. By this time, the Democratic-Republicans had practically destroyed the Federalist opposition. The main remaining Federalist stronghold was New England. At the time, New England was a major region. Massachusetts was the fourth largest state with 22 electoral votes (out of a total of 217). New England in total had 51 electoral votes. Gerry was a Democratic-Republican who had won elections and supported the War of 1812, which was very unpopular in New England.1
Madison was elected in an overwhelming victory. Gerry, as was typical of vice presidents of the time, had little to do with the administration. He died about 20 months into his term.
But that’s not why Elbridge Gerry is famous.
As governor of Massachusetts the Democratic-Republican controlled state legislature drew up maps of voting districts that highly favored their party. Governor Gerry signed the legislation.2 The graphic says it all!
Gerrymandering is one manifestation of an iron rule in human affairs. When some sort of group, whether a community or an organization, become powerful, they will attempt to shape institutions in their favor to lock in their advantages. We see this in so many aspects of politics and policy, but also in society. The most obvious is in regulation, where corporations support regulatory schemes that advantage them and keep out competitors. We need institutions to have a society, the trick is keeping this tendency in check.
Vacationing Vance
The biggest Vance news is that he vacationed in England3 and went fishing4 with the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy. Despite very different politics, Lammy and Vance are quite chummy. They share the Catholic faith, and both grew up in difficult family situations.
That’s nice. Vance still found time to meet with Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage, which holds similar views Vance and Trump and is an anathema to the Labour government.
But if you’re the U.K., you overlook this and stay in the good graces of the United States. In Europe, and beyond, the special relationship makes the U.K. special. U.S. and U.K. security and intelligence establishments are deeply intertwined. Maintaining Anglo-American commerce is particularly important across the pond, where the economy has been in doldrums.
There’s a pretty good chance Vance will be president. But even as vice president, cultivating Vance is wise. He may not be particularly influential on major issues, but with his former national security advisor no deputy to Marco Rubio at NSC, Vance might be well-placed to assist with lower-level issues. Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence became a major stop for lobbyists when the administration proved unresponsive to normal, course of business requests. The Brits are playing the same game.
Lt. Governors and Political Feuds in New York and Florida
There is a lot of lieutenant governor news out there. In New York the governor and Lt. Gov. are in open warfare. In Florida Governor DeSantis has just appointed a new Lt. Governor which is a move in his feud with Trump.
Imperial Feud
In the Empire State, Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado announced in June that he would challenge Governor Hochul in the Democratic primaries. Delgado has accused Governor Hochul of lacking vision. After Biden’s disastrous 2024 debate performance, Delgado was one of the first to call for Biden to step down. Hochul was a Biden surrogate.
Hochul has responded to this rebellion by taking away Delgado’s staff, government phone, and even his official email. Delgado is doing almost no official work. He’s had a mere handful of non-political appearances and isn’t presiding over the state Senate. Instead, Delgado is campaigning, full-time. It doesn’t appear New Yorkers are suffering from the lack of a Lt. Governor. The episode is a reminder of what—in most, but not all—cases a president or governor can do to a VP or Lt. Gov. that takes their disagreements and ambitions public.
For the past several decades vice presidents have received sufficient perks and access to the president that there are big incentives to stay in the fold. Presidents also don’t want to see the vice president become a problem; it’s a high-profile embarrassment. Thus, the president has at least some incentives to at least humor the VP.
But Lt. Governors have less perks and access. Further, Lt. Governors are generally not terribly important figures and thus the Governor runs far less of a risk if the Lt. Governor leaves the fold.
A New Piece on the Board
Meanwhile, in Florida, Governor DeSantis has appointed state Senator Jay Collins to be the Lt. Governor. The job was vacant because DeSantis forced the board of Florida International University to appoint his previous Lt. Gov. Jeannette Nuñez to be interim president.
I can’t claim any knowledge of Florida politics. But it looks like DeSantis, who clearly has further political ambitions, is setting himself up to continue to control the Sunshine State. The original plan was for his wife, Casey DeSantis to run to succeed him. But a charity she started, Hope Florida, received a $10 million donation from a Medicaid contractor that overbilled the state and Hope Florida money ended up with DeSantis aligned PACs. So that plan is on ice. Collins has been a leading defender in the state Senate of Hope Florida.
Trump, meanwhile, has endorsed U.S. Representative Byron Donalds to be governor. DeSantis may be setting up Collins as his successor to head off Donalds and ensure his allies remain in key positions in the Florida ecosystem. Here, the Lt. Governorship is a piece in DeSantis’ game to keep Florida under his thumb.
Death of a Veep in Myanmar
In Myanmar, the vice president Myint Swe died last week. He was also the acting president. Most of the headlines about his death described him as a figurehead, who had been ill and absent from the public stage for the past year. Myint Swe “assigned” his presidential duties to the head of the military government Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Myint Swe was a career soldier and part of the military leadership that ran the country for decades, he became the senior vice president after the 2016 elections that put Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy into power. He had been the military’s candidate for president.
In February 2021, when the military overthrew the civilian government, the president was arrested and Myint Swe became acting president. In this position he was empowered to provide the military authorization to take power.5
Myanmar is in the throes of a civil war and the military government is supposedly going to permit elections, Myint Swe’s leaving the scene is another vestige of the past dictatorship falling away.
Another corner of Veepology is the question of what vice presidents of dictatorships do, and for that matter, why they exist? Why was this fig-leaf of legitimacy so important to the Myanmar brass?
Coming up
In last week’s Veeply Roundup I promised a look at the vice presidents of South Sudan. It’s in draft and coming soon.
But Monday, I’ll definitely post part two of Veepstakes 2028, looking at the likely GOP picks.
This month saw the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Later next week I’ll take a look at what the atomic bomb meant for the institution of the vice presidency.
Thursday is of course Throwback Thursday and Friday is the Veeply Roundup (I’ll try to get it out before the evening.)
If you have items on vice presidents past and present, in the U.S. and around the world, or on Lt. Governors, that seem interesting—please send them along.
Gerry was not the first pick. Governor John Langdon of New Hampshire passed on the opportunity. Besides his New England background, Gerry was in his late sixties and not considered a political threat to Madison’s heir apparent, James Monroe.
Some sources indicate that Gerry wasn’t thrilled with these districts, seeing them as un-democratic, but signed the bill anyway. Of course, this was not the beginning of the practice. The New England colonies had engaged in these practices for at least a century before. Truth is, anywhere there are voters, there are efforts to skew the political playing field in this manner.
He was just on vacation a couple weeks ago. VP Vance seems to be on vacation almost as much as his boss. I’m not criticizing, I’m envious.
Foreign Secretary Lammy is being fined for not acquiring rod licenses. Note to self, do not vacation with the Vances. Whether it’s causing diplomatic incidents or environmental ones, weird stuff seems to go down.
Myanmar also had a second vice president, Henry Van Thio. He was part of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. He was the only member of that party to stay in office when that government was overthrown. He stepped down in 2024.