In my alternate universe, inauguration day has passed and, with the House deadlocked, Mike Pence is the Acting President. But could the House break the deadlock and select a President weeks, months, or even years later? The 20th Amendment does not set a time limit for the House to select a President; it states the Vice President Elect “shall act as President until a President shall have qualified.” This could have several interesting consequences.

First, Republicans would have to be vigilant in keeping their House members in DC to vote whenever the Democratic leadership decides to call for a vote. If the state delegations were split 25-25, Democrats could call for a vote when one of the states with a slim Republican majority was missing a couple members. This would allow the state to vote Democrat and give Biden the 26 votes necessary to become President. This could even happen as a result of illness or COVID-19 exposure forcing some members to remain in isolation.

Second, a vacant seat in the House could essentially turn into a Presidential election. If that seat could give one party control of a 26th state delegation, a victory would allow the House to break the deadlock and select a President. Imagine the attention and money that would poor into the race – Trump and Biden resuming their campaigns, 24/7 news coverage, and non-stop political ads in the Congressional District. 

Third, if the deadlock persists until then, it could be broken with the 2022 midterm elections. The new House in 2023 could again attempt to select a President. In some ways the mid-term election would be turned into a repeat of the 2020 Presidential Election. You could see unprecedented turnout and Trump and Biden actively campaigning across the country. It would be interesting because the strategy would be different. Several traditional swing states would not be important because, despite being competitive as a whole in the Presidential election, there is a pretty safe majority of House seats for one party (e.g. Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia). While other often ignored states like Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas could be vital if there was a competitive race for their one House seat.

In any of these case, the winner would become the President and, possibly after as much as two years as Acting President, Mike Pence would be demoted to Vice President. And yes, it is possible he could be Biden’s Vice President for the remainder of the term. If the Senate remained split 50-50, he could even cast deciding votes to reject legislation favored by the administration or defeat judges nominated by his President. This would definitely make for an interesting few years.