(WKYT) – In today’s Good Question, Tony asks: “Has there ever been, or could there be, a case where the president and vice president are from different parties?”

This could and has happened in the past, but it is unlikely to happen again.

In the first presidential election, there were no vice-presidential candidates. This was because the candidate with the most votes became president and the runner-up became vice president.

This led to rivals John Adams, a Federalist, and Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, serving as president and vice president in 1796.

Four years later, Jefferson defeated Adams and Aaron Burr became his vice president.

In 1804, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution changed the way elections were conducted. Vice presidents were now elected on a separate ballot, but today they run together on the same ballot.

During his second term in 1864, Republican Abraham Lincoln chose Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate. This was after the Civil War and he was trying to unite the country.

Johnson became president after Lincoln was assassinated.

This has only happened once in the recent past, when reports emerged that John McCain was considering independent former Democrat Joe Lieberman as his running mate for 2008. In the end, however, he chose Sarah Palin.

If you have a good question you think we should answer, send it to [email protected].

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