President-elect Donald Trump’s defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and although he ran for president three times, this is the last term he can serve.
The Constitution rules that even if the terms aren’t consecutive, a person can only hold the office of the president twice.
Here’s everything to know about presidential term limits.
A person can serve two four-year terms as president, as outlined in the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment. The terms do not have to be consecutive.
A vice president who serves as president can run for two terms after that service if they held the office of president for less than two years. So if a vice president took the office of president one year into a term, they could only run for office one more time. If they took power in the back half of the term, they could be elected to the presidency twice. In recent history, President Lyndon Johnson took over in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was killed, making him eligible to run in 1964 and 1968. He ultimately opted not to run in 1968, although he was in the race until after the New Hampshire primary.
The two terms don’t need to be consecutive: Until Trump’s victory this week, Grover Cleveland was the only president to serve non-consecutive presidential terms.
But this means that Donald Trump, who was elected to office in 2016 and in 2024, cannot be elected president again in 2028.
Only one person has served more than two terms as president: Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was the longest-sitting president in United States history, serving from 1933 to 1945.
That third term led to controversy, according to the National Constitution Center. The nation’s first president, George Washington, had established a precedent of only two terms in office per president, and some saw Roosevelt’s break from tradition as a threat to democracy.
In 1947, Congress approved the 22nd amendment. The amendment was ratified in February 1951.
There’s no limit to how many times someone can run for president.
There have been more than a few perennial candidates for president throughout American history. Harold Stassen, a former governor of Minnesota, ran for president as a Republican candidate nine times between 1944 and 1992. Lyndon LaRouche ran for president in eight consecutive elections between 1976 and 2004 — once as the candidate for the U.S. Labor Party, which he had founded, and seven times as a candidate for the Democratic party.
Trump has made a number of comments about term limits and his time in office, although it’s unclear if he was serious. In July, he repeatedly told attendees at a conservative Christian event that they wouldn’t “have to vote anymore” if he was elected to office in 2024. Some saw the comments as a threat to not leave office after a second term.
“Christians, get out in vote. Just this time,” he said during a speech at the Believers’ Summit, an event hosted by the conservative advocacy group Turning Point Action. “You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”
Trump continued: “I love you Christians and I’m a Christian. I love you, you got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”
Trump has mentioned the idea of a third term more than once. In August 2020, he said he would win that election and then “go another four years” because “they spied on my campaign,” according to Forbes. A month later, he told crowds he would “negotiate” more time in office, saying that he was “probably entitled to another four after (2020)” based on “the way we were treated.”
In April 2024, Trump told Time magazine that he intends “to serve four years and do a great job” and “wouldn’t be in favor” of an extended term, but during a 2024 speech for the National Rifle Association, Trump asked supporters if he would be considered “three-term or two-term.”
Since losing the 2020 election, Trump repeatedly falsely claimed that he had won.
