Running mate

A running mate is a person who, in a political campaign, enters the ticket of a "senior runner" to assist or round out the chances of that ticket.

The most notable example of a running mate is in the United States presidential election; after a disaster in the 1800 election (where, under the prior law, the President and Vice President - Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr - were bitter political rivals), the 12th Amendment required the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate to run jointly.

Some states' gubernatorial elections have the Governor and Lieutenant Governor running together (Florida is an example), but more commonly, the two run separately and can be from different parties {this happened in Texas on a few occasions during the time when voter preferences were changing from Democrat to Republican).