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By D.G. Martin

What will the four national candidates do next – after the election?

The answer will be clear for the winners. They will take the offices they won, assuming, of course that there is no coup or some other development that overturns the election results. The losers will follow a different path.

If Trump and Vance win, Donald will be back to the White House, able to pardon himself for some of his crimes and immune from at least some charges, assuming the Supreme Court holds to and expands its grant of immunity for some presidential acts. And for all pending federal crimes, he will be able to appoint the responsible officials who would be able to drop any and all charges. As for state and any other non-federal legal matters, Trump can count on the Supreme Court to protect him. Thus, a victory in the presidential election could make it possible for Trump to exercise all the powers of the presidency and more, making him the most powerful president ever.

A Trump victory would make Vance the vice president and, because Trump is not eligible to serve another term, Vance could be a leading candidate to run for president in 2028. If Trump should die or become incapacitated, a real possibility given his age, Vance could become president even earlier.

What will the candidates who lose do?

If Trump and Vance should lose on November 5, Vance will go back to his seat in the Senate and Trump will return to Mar-a-Largo as an ordinary citizen unless he decides to challenge the election and mount an effort to overturn the results.

On the other hand, what happens to Ted Walz and Kamala Harris if they lose on November 5?

Walz, as governor of Minnesota, will keep that job. He was elected governor in 2018 and reelected for four more years in 2022. No term limits would keep him from running again and again. Or he may be tempted to accept an important appointive position. Trump, as president, is unlikely to nominate him to any significant position.

Now, perhaps the most important question, “What happens to Kamala Harris if she loses to Trump and Vance?”

The first and most important thing is that, unless she and Walz win in the election, she will be out of work, out of a paying job, and a paid staff. She will not be a federal official.

But don’t be fooled. If she is not elected president on November 5, she will already be running for president in the November 2028 election. She will be traveling across the country, supporting Democrats, and raising money to build pro-Harris organizations criticizing Trump, Vance, and their allies. It will be hard work.

But as she has said, over and over, “We love hard work.”

D.G. Martin, a retired lawyer, served as UNC-System’s vice president for public affairs and hosted PBS-NC’s North Carolina Bookwatch.

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