2000 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection

This article lists those who were potential candidates for the Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States in the 2000 election. On March 7, 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush won the 2000 Republican nomination for President of the United States, and became the presumptive nominee. On July 25, 2000, former Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney was chosen as his running mate.^[1]

The Bush–Cheney ticket would go on to defeat the Democratic tickets of Gore–Lieberman in 2000 and Kerry–Edwards in 2004.

Selection process

Bush had initially chosen Dick Cheney to lead the search for his vice presidential running mate. In 1992, Bush had supported Cheney as a replacement for Dan Quayle on his father's ultimately unsuccessful national ticket.^[2] After more than three months of extensive research, Cheney recommended John Danforth to be the nominee,^[3] as the other choices' strengths were offset by liberal stances.^[4] Bush heavily considered Danforth, but ultimately asked Cheney himself to be the nominee.

According to the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the presidential electors from Texas (in the United States Electoral College) could not vote for candidates for president and vice president who were both from Texas. On July 21, 2000, Cheney changed his voter registration from Texas to Teton County, Wyoming, which, combined with other actions, ultimately allowed the Texas electors to vote for both Bush and Cheney.^[5]^[6]^[7]

By picking Cheney, Bush had a running mate who had years of experience as well as an extensive foreign policy expertise. After Cheney, who was serving as CEO of Halliburton, reported his findings back to Bush, Bush surprised pundits by asking Cheney himself to be his running mate. Bush told supporters that regional considerations would have less bearing on his decision than the candidate's ability to take over the office of the presidency. At the selection announcement, Bush said that Cheney, who had worked under all five presidential administrations between 1969 and 1993, was qualified, respected and shared his vision for America.^[8]

There was a short-lived movement to draft Elizabeth Dole, but that effort did not move forward.^[9]