History Characters / Veep

[[/index]]

[[folder:Andrew Meyer]]
->'''Played By:''' David Pasquesi
Selina's ex-husband, a property developer, to whom she was married for 12 years and with whom she still has an on-and-off again affair.
----
* BelligerentSexualTension: Between him and Selina. In "Andrew", during a dinner they alternate between flirting and fighting in a matter of minutes.
* BusCrash: [[spoiler:Near the end of Season 7, Selina is told that he was aboard the ''Labor Day'' when it sunk. [[FakingTheDead However...]]]]
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: In season 6 he tries to get the Meyer Fund into several million-dollar quid pro quos with shady foreign nationals.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Bears a number of similarities to Anthony Weiner, particularly with his affairs and his getting everyone associated with him into hot water.
* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Despite supposedly being dead, he makes cameo appearances in "Oslo" and "Veep". In "Veep", he's the mustached man pushing past Dan, Amy, and Kent at Selina's funeral.]]
* KickTheDog: In Season 7, he and Selina come up with trying to frame Marjorie for the Meyer Fund. Andrew does consider that doing this would hurt Catherine, but it doesn't stop them.
* SexWithTheEx: Andrew and Selina have casual sex several times in seasons 2 and 3.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Danny Chung]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/RandallPark
The Governor of Minnesota and a decorated veteran of the war in Iraq, something he reminds everyone of in each of his appearances. In season 3 he becomes a candidate for the Presidency.
----
* EvenEvilHasStandards: As much of a JerkAss and SmugSnake he is, even he's put off by how Selina runs her campaign, which is why he declines being her running mate.
* FakeUltimateHero: It's heavily implied that his various glorious military anecdotes didn't actually happen.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Every other time he speaks he's boasting about how great he is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:George Maddox]]
->'''Played By:''' Isaiah Whitlock, Jr.

The Secretary of Defense. In season 3, he unexpectedly resigns from his post and runs for the presidential nomination, only to quit after a poor performance in the primary debate.
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ed Webster]]
->'''Played By:''' Zach Woods

Amy's oft-ignored boyfriend. He runs Selina Meyer's PAC office in Boston, but nobody really remembers who he is.
----
* ButtMonkey: Whenever he appears, not even Amy seems to respect him:
-->'''Ed:''' Everyone here doesn't hate me, right? ''(Silence)''
* CannotTellAJoke
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leon West]]
->'''Played By:''' Brian Huskey

A political journalist for the ''Washington Post'', nicknamed the "Beltway Butcher." He frequently antagonizes Mike and Dan.
----
* ItsPersonal: He becomes obsessed with bringing down Selina after she arranges for Iran to imprison him so she can free him as a publicty stunt.
* KnowWhenToFoldThem: At the end of Season 6, [[spoiler:after being fired from ''The Washington Post'' for his vendetta against Selina hurting the quality of his work, Leon joins Selina's new presidential campaign, replacing Mike.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bill Ericsson]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/DiedrichBader

He is a political campaign manager and possibly the best one.
----
* AdultsAreUseless: He doesn't do anything when Jonah reveals that [[spoiler:he's being sexually harassed by Teddy]] and he just says that it's an "interesting" story but not relevant to the task at hand.
* TheBusCameBack: He got sent to prison at the beginning of Season 5, but came back in "C**tgate" as the campaign manager for Jonah's opponent in the congressional race. He's not happy about Meyer sending him up shit creek without a pardon.
* ContinuitySnarl: At Jonah's congressional speech, he comments that Jonah fighting with the hecklers he hired is "more beautiful than the birth of my child". In the series finale, [[spoiler:Amy states that she and Bill never had any children in the DistantFinale, so either Bill was just saying that as a figure of speech, Amy meant that ''she'' didn't have kids with Bill, or it's this trope]].
* DeadpanSnarker: He snarks so much that people can't tell when he's being sincere.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's incredibly rude to pretty much everyone.
* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler:The distant finale shows that he eventually gets married to Amy.]]
* TheScapegoat: The Meyer administration pins the blame for the anti-Family First lobbying and the chaos at the race symposium on him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Karen Collins]]
->'''Played by:''' Lennon Parham

A former Senior Adviser to Selina and an old friend of hers from her lawyer days.
----
* ChekhovsSkill: Her ability to dance around the subject becomes useful when Selina and co. need to stall the recount.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Everything she says is just some sort of paraphrase of what the person she's trying to appeal to already said.
* EnemyMine: Amy hates her for being an annoying YesMan to Selina, but she gets a hold of her to stall the vote recount.
* YesMan: To [[ItsAllAboutMe Selina]] or whoever she's trying to please at the moment. UpToEleven in that when presented with a choice, she dances around the question since she doesn't know which one will make them happy, causing people to regard her as an idiot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Minna Häkkinen]]
->'''Played By:''' Sally Phillips
First introduced in Season 2, she subsequently makes appearances once a season. She starts the series as the Prime Minister of Finland. Later on, she moves on to an international career, as the head of the IMF and a high-ranking United Nations Diplomat.
----
* TheComicallySerious: One of her quirks is being comically blunt.
* FeeFiFauxPas: Accidentally divulges some off-the-cuff remarks from Selina about the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics Second Amendment]] to Jonah, who leaks it to the press.
* FunnyForeigner: Her other defining characteristic - she and Selina have some incredibly awkward banter over the course of the show.
* PrinciplesZealot: After Selina accidentally tells her about a war crime, Minna reports her to Interpol as she's legally obligated...then turns right around and offers Selina sanctuary in her embassy until it blows over.
* TooMuchInformation: During the election monitoring in Georgia, she goes into candid detail about her romantic and sexual relationship with the opposition candidate, much to Selina's disgust.
[[/folder]]

[[foldercontrol]]

!!Main Cast
[[folder:Selina Catherine Meyer]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SelinaMeyer_8420.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"I'm the Vice President of the United States, you stupid little fuckers!"]]

The foul-mouthed Vice President of the United States who longs for more power. She becomes President at the end of season 3, after the previous President unexpectedly resigns. After the end of the Meyer administration, she starts a charitable foundation to end adult literacy. And AIDS. And to promote democracy.

* AbusiveParents: Selina's mother was cold and cruel to her, and Selina ended up treating her own daughter in much the same way.
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:In the end she becomes so obsessed with becoming President that she trades away her one positive legacy in freeing Tibet, and by the time she gets in the Oval she has thoroughly alienated everyone she was once close to. She’s defeated by Kemi after only a single term, and then has to watch her old nemesis completely eclipse her place in history as a truly beloved female President with two terms. By the time she dies at 74, she’s such a footnote to history that the death of Tom Hanks completely overshadows her funeral on the news.]]
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Selina is especially attracted to sleazes and enemies. Catherine's father Andrew is a sleazy property developer always in trouble for fraud, and then there's her relationship with Tom.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Deconstructed. Though she occasionally does [[PetTheDog show concern for her people]], it's ultimately hollow because [[ItsAllAboutMe she'll still screw them over and ruin their lives if it benefits her]].
** Exemplified in the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:where she confesses to a hospitalized Ben that [[PleaseDontLeaveMe she needs him]] because she doesn't know what to do without him, which foreshadows the ending: that she'll regret alienating her team to win the presidency, [[LonelyAtTheTop but she'll be all alone]].]]
** Also in the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:she reluctantly has Gary take the fall for Andrew's crimes and thanks him for everything he's done for her. Yet after she becomes president, she never pardons him or even visits him in prison and they only "meet" again when Gary attends her funeral two decades later.]]
* BadBoss: See NeverMyFault.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: When she [[spoiler:becomes President]], the consequences for fuck-ups become much bigger.
* BrokenPedestal: Selina idolized her father up until the events of "Chicklet", where her uncle tells her that her father was an adulturer [[OutWithABang who died having sex with his secretary]] and that he was involved in numerous shady financial dealings, just like Selina's ex-husband Andrew.
* ConvenientMiscarriage: [[spoiler:In "Baseball", she discovers that she's pregnant, much to her horror, as she's unmarried. She has a miscarriage in the very next episode.]]
* CorruptPolitician: Finally happens in Season 5 when she stops at nothing to buy the House vote, which includes colluding with the Chinese government.
* DaddysGirl: Selina only shows deep emotion when she remembers her beloved politician father, highlighted that she refers to her parents as "Daddy" and "Mother".
* DeadpanSnarker: But only behind closed doors. Publicly, she sticks to safe (and lame) jokes.
* DeceptiveLegacy: Grew up thinking her father was a wonderful man who built the family fortune and her mother a cold woman who sold off Selina's beloved horse. In season 6, Selina discovers her dad was a scam artist who would have bankrupted the family if not for her mother's business smarts. Also, he was cheating on her mom with his secretary and Selina's mother kept the truth hidden, letting Selina hate her rather than ruin the image of her father.
* EasilyForgiven: By no-one but Gary. [[spoiler:In the finale, he holds no grudge against her for sending him to prison.]]
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Has a tendency to stick her foot in her mouth, and then ingest said foot, whenever she's put on the spot without preparation. Given that she's a high-ranking politician, these situations are her day job.
* FemaleMisogynist: Selina wants to be seen as a feminist hero for being the first woman president, but privately she often makes disparaging comments about women.
* FoxNewsLiberal: [[spoiler:''Permanently'' overturns gay marriage in order to win the 2020 Democratic nomination.]]
* FreudianExcuse: Her mother, whom Selina once claimed was a "pathological narcissist" that routinely neglected and mocked her only daughter, was apparently a large source of grief for her growing up. The irony in ''her'' telling this information to Catherine is justifiably lost on Selina.[[note]]Denial represents a crucial defense mechanism in the RealLife personality disorder, and it's not unlikely for those grandiose, self-defeating traits to be passed down from parent to child.[[/note]]
* HiddenDepths: In spite of Selina being largely depicted as incompetent, she consistently has moments which show how she was able to become an accomplished Senator, mount a presidential campaign and become Vice President. 
** In "Debate" she is shown to be an effective public speaker who can think on her feet.
** A clip of a presidential debate shown in "Mommy Meyer" suggests that she is much better public speaker than her opponent, Bill O'Brien.
** In "Congressional Ball", she ruthlessly and successfully browbeats fellow politicians to keep them in line.
** In spite of Tom James' status as TheAce, in Season 5 she sees through and averts his schemes more than once.
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: In Season 6, [[spoiler:Selina's party wants nothing to do with her, she has to deal with President Montez becoming a Nobel Peace Laureate by stealing credit for Selina's accomplishments, and she's financially dependent on her daughter.]]
* HypocriticalHumor: See ItsAllAboutMe.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: In "Nicknames," when she learns about all the various nicknames given to her by bloggers, the one she takes the greatest issue with is "Viagra Prohibitor."
-->They are saying that a prescription medication that is supposed to guarantee a strong and sustained erection in all men despite their age or their health is rendered ineffective by me? You know what? You no longer search on the nicknames!
* ItsAllAboutMe: To the point where Selina can barely even understand the needs of others, especially Gary and Catherine's.
* ImportantHaircut: She gets a short haircut [[spoiler:when she's running for President in season 3.]]
* InformedAbility: Supposedly a politician of some repute, but with a habit of gaffes, yet on the show she appears to be clueless, surrounding herself with an even more clueless staff, and being unable to effectively engage in the kind of small talk with voters that real politicians do all the time.
* ItsAllAboutMe: She tries to deny it, but it's true. In "Catherine" she says, "I know not everything is about me," to her daughter — while hiding in a closet filled with pictures, posters, and cardboard cutouts of herself.
** Selina becomes incredibly incensed when she learns that Mike and his wife Wendy are trying IVF:
---> '''Selina:''' I can't have Mike getting what's-her-ass all knocked up and pregnant, becoming some sort of dad during ''my'' campaign.
* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Attended Smith College
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Initially she had some Heart of Gold moments, especially with Catherine. But as the series progressed she became an increasingly terrible person and stopped showing humanity even to her daughter. And her few genuine accomplishments (like Tibet) were lucky byproducts of her terrible behavior.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:She gets re-elected president, selling Tibet back to the Chinese and permanently abolishes same-sex marriage, dies peacefully of old age, and is remembered somewhat fondly. However...]]
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: Although she’s remembered a little fondly, she’s lost everybody who cared about her, was kicked out of the Oval Office after only one term as President by Kemi of all people, who then proceeded to blow her out of the water and earn herself a place in history as one of the best presidents who ever lived, and when she dies, is quickly forgotten about. All in all, she worked her block off and sold out everything and everybody she had for four measly years of power, and was quickly booted out in short order, rendering all she had done an exercise in futility and is quickly swept under the rug after her death.]]
* KickTheDog: [[{{Jerkass}} Plenty.]]
** In "Oslo", [[spoiler:she promises to give back Tibet to China in exchange for China secretly helping her win the presidential election. Immediately afterwards, she meets a group of Tibetan monks who will certainly suffer horribly if Tibet is given back to China...]]
** In the finale, [[spoiler:she agrees to outlaw same-sex marriage to get Buddy Calhoun's delegates, annuling her daughter's marriage in the process.]]
* KickedUpstairs: TruthInTelevision, the Vice Presidential position is notorious for being a graveyard for political influence,[[note]]The very first VP UsefulNotes/JohnAdams even famously declared it to be the most useless job humanity has ever invented.[[/note]] with some exceptions - UsefulNotes/AlGore, UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush and UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, for example. Selina is apparently not one of them.
--> '''Selina''': What am I missing these days?
--> '''Senator Hallows''': Power.
* KissingUnderTheInfluence: It's implied that she had drunken sex with another woman back in college.
* LawOfInverseFertility: [[spoiler:As a middle-aged, divorced politician, the last thing she wants is another child, so of course she gets pregnant after having unprotected sex one time.]]
* LonelyAtTheTop: Ultimately. [[spoiler:She became President, but lost Gary, her whole staff, and Catherine and Catherine's family, with Catherine even ''celebrating'' once Selina dies.]]
* MistakenForRacist: In "Chung", Selina is mistakenly informed that Danny Chung, the Chinese American governor of Minnesota was not born in the U.S., so she says on ''MeetThePress'' that Chung can't run for President, because he's "technically not an American".
* MrsRobinson: Explicitly stated by Jonah, who wonders out loud how many drinks it would take for something to happen between them.
* {{Narcissist}}: And how. Especially clear in Season 6 and onwards, but it was always there - such a time when she told her neglected and emotional daughter that she "knew it wasn't all about her"...while surrounded by campaign posters showing her face.
* NeverMyFault: She shifts blame for any mistake on to her staff.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: A female senator who ran a campaign to be President before being shunted into an administration job by the victorious nominee? UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton. A Vice-President from a mid-Atlantic state with a habit of unfortunate gaffes? UsefulNotes/JoeBiden.
* NoPartyGiven: Selina's party is never named, though the issues she stands for seem to be vaguely liberal, suggesting that she's a Democrat.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** In "Kissing Your Sister" after [[spoiler:the House vote is undecided and Tom James is all but certain to take the presidency]], she just walks out of the Oval Office forlornly. No screaming, no blaming staff, just straight quiet to the point that it's almost a HeroicBSOD.
** Her very last scene in the show is [[spoiler:her back in the Oval Office about to complain about the "level of incompetency" that she's... no longer surrounded by, because she alienated all her friends/allies in order to get to where she was. She trails off her remark as she realizes this.]]
* PetTheDog:
** She shows an odd concern for the well-being of the President [[spoiler:when Kent informs her that he's resigning]].
** When she hears from Dan and Amy that [[ButtMonkey Jonah]] literally shot himself in the foot, she tells Ben, who is struggling to hold in his laughter, that it isn't funny. Diminished in that she then asks Dan and Amy how this will affect her reputation.
* PoliticiansKissBabies: In Season 7, she uses Catherine and Marjorie's baby, her grandson, while campaigning. It takes a toll on Catherine, who is suffering from postpartum depression.
* PowerHair: She gets a short haircut [[spoiler:when she's running for President in season 3.]] Louis-Dreyfus (who wears a wig for the role) said that her own hair "does not look like hair that‘s inside the Beltway".
** It comes in for a good deal of mockery.
---> '''Ben:''' ''[[spoiler:(at Selina's second swearing-in ceremony)]]'' They're gonna have a field day with that haircut. "Thai Ladyboy Made Head of Sweatshop."
** However, in season 4, after [[spoiler:she becomes President, she lets her hair grow out again.]]
* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: In the GrandFinale, Selina finally becomes President, but she ended up a one term president who's only remembered for freeing Tibet, and abolishing gay marriage. Worst, her administration was overshadowed by both Kemi and Splett who became two term presidents. She gave up her allies, daughter, and Gary, for the Oval Office, and had nothing to show for it in the end.]]
* PyrrhicVillainy: Crossing over with the one above, naturally. [[spoiler:Permanently overturning gay marriage]] just to further her own career was the final nail that pushed Catherine away from her forever.
* RichBitch: Selina likes to think she's a "woman of the people", but deep down she loathes the people and is extremely snobby and rude to literally everyone.
* TheScapegoat: Essentially her role for the President and the rest of the administration when a major scandal comes along. Even when Selina actually accomplishes something spectacular, like successfully negotiating the budget talks with the House majority leader in order to avoid a government shutdown, POTUS stalls on the deal and lets the shutdown happen in order to take attention away from [[spoiler:the hostage crisis blowout where one of them was a CIA spy,]] thereby blaming Selina.
--> '''Ben:''' Madam Vice President, greatest respect, but it has been the job of the VP over the ages to, you know, take it in the ass to save the President.
* SirSwearsALot: Her filthy mouth was noted by several reviewers.
* SkewedPriorities: When Selina learns that her exhaustion was a mild heart attack, she's overjoyed because it means that she's not experiencing menopause.
* SlaveToPR: Selina's stance on any issue will be determined by what impression it will have in the media.
* TheUnfavourite: To the administration. In season 1, her main project is a "clean jobs" bill, which she eventually has to veto personally, when the President pulls his support. In season 2, the President gives her a more prominent role in foreign policy, only to throw her under the bus when a major scandal comes along.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Selina was never portrayed as likable, but she had some humanizing moments in the earlier seasons. By season 6, there are no such moments and her behavior is close to sociopathy.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Selina is selfish, shallow, amoral and incompetent. She does not seem to have any political convictions; all she cares about is how she appears before the voters.
* UpperClassEquestrian: She's from a very privileged background. Growing up she had a beloved pony, and she still resents her mother for selling it.
* UpperClassTwit: The media makes her out to be this due to her over-privileged background, especially after a quote in her book about how she learned about the tough life of American farmers through grooming her pony as a child. ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' even does a sketch about this... [[spoiler:and then Meyer turns up in a follow-up one (Dreyfus was in fact in ''SNL'' herself)]]
--> '''Selina:''' So I had a horse as a kid, who didn't? Have a pet, is what I meant.
** Selina also says that you shouldn't be a millionaire at a young age: "You shouldn't make your first million until you're in your thirties. That's what Andrew and I did and it kept us completely grounded."
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: At the end of the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:after alienating herself from her allies, she only realizes [[LonelyAtTheTop what this means]] when finds herself alone in the Oval Office.]]
* WomanScorned: In the middle of her divorce with Andrew, she torched his car and got away with it.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Repeatedly throughout the series, Selina had a pechant for firing or sacking a member of her staff the moment she feels she no longer needs them. The *only* member of her staff who Selina seems to truly value is [[MoralityPet Ben]].

[[folder:Amy Brookheimer]]
->'''Played By:''' Anna Chlumsky
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AmyBrookheimer_3764.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"If you can't take the heat, buy asbestos panties".]]

The long-suffering Vice Presidential Chief of Staff. In the middle of season 3, she is promoted to Selina's campaign manager to replace Dan after his London trainwreck, only to later briefly resign over Selina's refusal to take her advice. After the end of the Meyer administration, Amy has a brief stint as her fiancé Buddy Calhoun's campaign manager, but she quickly rejoins Selina as her personal assistant.

* BeleagueredAssistant. Like everyone in Selina's staff, she's are completely overworked and constantly forced to put out fires. [[spoiler:In season 4, she can't take it any longer, tells off Selina and quits.]]
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Dan. The two of them dated for a week sometime before the series began and normally can't stomach one another, but they do occasionally seem to care about one another a bit more than most colleagues do. [[spoiler:In Season 6, they have drunken sex offscreen, which results in Amy getting pregnant. Amy tries to nudge Dan into settling down with her and raising their child together, but when Dan remains oblivious to her advances, she decides to get an abortion.]]
* BlondeRepublicanSexKitten: [[spoiler:Basically what she becomes when she joins Jonah’s campaign.]]
* DeadpanSnarker
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Zigzagged. [[spoiler:While Amy does have an abortion after getting pregnant, it was only because Dan ignored her attempts to suggest that they settle down together.]]
* HypercompetentSidekick: Consistently, she is the most competent and adept member of Selina's staff.
* LawOfInverseFertility: [[spoiler:She has drunken sex with Dan and ends up pregnant in Season 6 despite neither of them being interested in having children or having families, much less be committed to each other.]]
* ManipulativeBitch: Her manipulations in "Special Relationship" result in [[spoiler:Dan having a nervous breakdown and losing his position as campaign manager, with Amy getting the job.]]
* MarriedToTheJob:
** Work seems to be much more important to Amy than her personal life. She didn't even know about her one-year anniversary with her boyfriend until he told her. Even then, she didn't care, because she had something urgent to do.
---> '''Ed:''' Kind of seems more appropriate now that it's just the two of us.
---> '''Amy:''' No, you have to go too.
---> '''Ed:''' Amy! It's our anniversary!
---> '''Amy:''' Please do not tell me you are one of those fucking weirdos that celebrates three-month-aversaries!
---> '''Ed:''' It's actually a year.
---> '''Amy:''' A year in which you neglected to tell me about Jeff Kane[[note]]Jonah's uncle who controls the senior vote in New Hampshire[[/note]].
** In Season 6, she's shown to be completely uninterested in sex with her fiancé. She only gets excited when he encourages her to rant about how much she hates his opponent, and even then she's more interested in the politics than having sex with him.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In the final season, Amy plays a major role enabling [[spoiler: the worst aspects of Jonah's presidential campaign]] all in the name of furthering her political career. It's not until [[spoiler: Selina states her intentions to capitalize on Jonah's popularity by making him her running mate does Amy realize the monster she had created.]]
* NotWantingKidsIsWeird: Amy is criticized by her family for not wanting children. [[spoiler:That said, she was willing to settle down with Dan after she got pregnant with his kid, but [[LoveIsOblivious when he remains oblivious to her advances]] and was already expecting her to get an abortion, she aborts. In the DistantFinale, she never had children and repeatedly states -unprompted- that it was a "good idea," making depressingly clear she’s in denial about her obvious regret.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:After having spent the middle of season 7 working for Jonah's campaign and trying to destroy Selina's career, Amy breaks down and begs Selina ''not'' to offer Jonah the Vice Presidency.]]
* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler:The DistantFinale show that she eventually marries Bill Ericcson]]
* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: [[spoiler:In Season 4, when Selina brings on Karen, an useless YesMan to be her adviser, and values her opinions more than Amy's, Amy has a meltdown, delivers a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to both Karen and Selina and quits her job on the spot.]]
* SignificantWardrobeShift: After officially joining [[spoiler:Jonah's campaign in Season 7]], she appears on a talk show with curled hair, heavy makeup, and wearing a low-cut dress, a far cry from the simple and practical styles she had worn up until then.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Dan, though she'd deny it.
* {{Workaholic}}: Amy neglects her personal life for the sake of her job and it seems that she's simply unable to relax. Sue explicitly describes her as a workaholic in "Election Night":
-->She's a workaholic. She works frantically to avoid dealing with her weird mix of lack of self-worth and narcissism.
* WorkingWithTheEx: She and Dan dated for a week. She apparently has no fond memories of it.
--> '''Amy:''' It was like getting over mild food poisoning.

[[folder:Gary Walsh]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/TonyHale

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GaryWalsh_4618.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"I'm next to the Veep more than any other human being. I'm her moon."]]

The fiercely loyal personal assistant to Selina.

* BerserkButton: Gary is normally a pushover, but he gets very angry when someone hurts Selina. He also flips out when Selina says that he's unimportant to her.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: When it's discovered Andrew is cheating on Selina, Gary screams and tries to throttle the man right in a limo.
* ButtMonkey: Treated as wimpy and an ExtremeDoormat to Selina. Not as bad as Jonah, though, [[EveryoneHasStandards who he does show some annoyance at]].
-->'''Gary:''' ''[During a shooter lockdown]'' Get to the panic room!\\
'''Sue:''' Every room you're in is a panic room, Gary.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Burns his hands holding VP Meyer's hot coffee cup while she has an idle conversation. He'll go on to do similar things in later episodes.
* ExtremeDoormat: He will never, ever go against Selina. [[spoiler:He even forgives her for framing him for fraud and refuses to say one bad word about her.]]
* FallGuy: [[spoiler: Unwittingly takes the fall for Andrew Meyer's activities as Director of the Meyer Fund.]]
* GoshDangItToHeck: As opposed to pretty much everyone else on the show, Gary almost never uses profanity. An example of the contrast in "Nicknames", when he and Amy tell Selina about the unflattering nicknames bloggers gave her, and he brings up [=VPILF=]:
-->'''Gary:''' You know what that means? Vice President I Would Like to, you know, fool around with.
-->'''Amy:''' Fuck.
** PrecisionFStrike: On the other hand, there were a few moments where Gary has been pushed to his limits that this happens, as Dana's cheese shop employee, [[ItMakesSenseInContext the Statue of Liberty]], and eventually [[spoiler:Selina]] find out.
* GreenEyedMonster: Gary is clearly in love with Selina and gets very passive aggressive with her boyfriends.
* GrewASpine: In Season 4, after Gary makes some serious mistakes, Selina chews him out and tells him that he's unimportant to her. Gary reacts with uncharacteristic anger, reminding Selina that he's more than just her bagman.
-->'''Gary:''' I've broken my body for you. I've let myself to be laughed at, I've let myself to be humiliated and I'm happy to do it! Most of the time, you don't even know that I exist, but I'm ''[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] everything to you!''
* HeroicBSOD: After he walks in on [[spoiler:Selina and Tom James having sex]], he can barely walk down the hall, whimpering to himself.
* HiddenDepths: He went to Cornell... and majored in hotel management.
* HypercompetentSidekick: Seems to know everything about everyone in the Washington DC political scene, including his boss. This is very useful to Selina. Has pretty much no knowledge of policy, but that's not his job.
* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: He shows strong signs of being in love with Selina (a platonic variant, considering he was dating Dana at the time), who either doesn't notice it or doesn't care about it. [[spoiler:She frames him for Andrew's fraud shortly before being re-elected president, which gets Gary sent to jail, and she never sees him again. He still shows up to her funeral and cries at her coffin.]]
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: While playing devil's advocate, Dan predicts that Selina's policy will destroy America, capping it off by saying that she'll become so infamous that no one will ever name their child Selina again. After a stunned moment of silence, Gary says, "My God... no more Selinas?" He's immediately shushed.
* OhCrap: In "Intruder", when an intruder shoots up the White House.
-->'''Gary:''' [[PrecisionFStrike Shit]] just got real! Shit just got real!
* PrecisionFStrike: Usually a case of OOCIsSeriousBusiness in either he's having an OhCrap moment or he's pissed off.
** When he gives Selina TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in Season 4.
--->"I'm ''fucking everything to you!"''
** When he gives TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the rest of Selina's staff and Tom James for screwing up the election at the end of Season 5. It certainly grabs their attention, [[CompletelyMissingThePoint but only because they wanted to see him go off for once.]]
--->"You ''fuckers''."
* OedipusComplex: The summary of his relationship with Selina is a very odd version of this, although they aren't technically related. He adores her, is extremely protective of her, and will never contradict her, but also seems to hero-worship her and consider the most beautiful woman alive.
* TakingTheBullet: Well, it's actually a [[ItMakesSenseInContext sneeze bullet.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: To Selina. [[spoiler:He even breaks up with her boyfriend for her!]]
** It comes to a head in the GrandFinale, where [[spoiler:Selina frames him for Andrew's crimes regarding the Meyer Fund. Though he's initially hurt by her betrayal, he still attends her funeral 24 years later and holds no grudge against her.]]
* TheUnFavorite: His parents have far more love for Bruce, Gary's ''stillborn twin'', even keeping the crib meant for him, more than their living son who works for the President.
* WellDoneSonGuy: His dad has little respect for him and his job.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: His girlfriend, Dana, is never brought up again as the show goes on. According to WordOfSaintPaul, Selina probably did something bad to her.

[[folder:Dan Egan]]
->'''Played By:''' Reid Scott
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_danryan_2072.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"This is what happens if you tell the truth. Nothing good comes of it".]]

The former Director of Communications for Senator Hallows, until he sabotages her in an attempt to curry favor with Selina. This gets him a job under Mike as Deputy Director of Communications for Selina. In Season 3, he is chosen to be Selina's campaign manager, which completely blows up in his face and he is quickly replaced by Amy. After the end of the Meyer administration, Dan rebrands himself "Danny" and becomes a CBS news anchor.

* BeleagueredAssistant: Dan is frequently overwhelmed by Selina's demands.
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Amy. The two of them dated for a week sometime before the series began and normally can't stomach one another, but they do occasionally seem to care about one another a bit more than most colleagues do. [[spoiler:In Season 6, they have drunken sex offscreen, which results in Amy getting pregnant. Amy tries to nudge Dan into settling down with her and raising their child together, but when Dan remains oblivious to her advances, she decides to get an abortion.]]
* BluntYes
--> '''Gary''': Every single thing you say to me is emasculating. Do you realize that?
--> '''Dan''': Yes.
* TheCharmer: Subverted. Whenever he turns on the charm, his colleagues find it anything but.
--> '''Mike:''' You know, Dan, watching you try to be nice is like watching a baby smoke a cigarette. It's kind of cool, but also very disturbing.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: He ''will'' sell out whoever he works for if he thinks it can further his career, but then this is par for the course in politics. He's just the one in Selina's staff who displays it the most.
* DeadpanSnarker: Like most of the cast, Dan is frequently sarcastic.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He's disgusted and outraged when he sees Jonah [[spoiler:get grabbed in the balls]] by Teddy and tells him not to put up with it because it's sexual harassment.
* FutureLoser: [[spoiler: The GrandFinale shows that 24 years later he's remained as skeezy as ever, except instead of being a member of working in politics, he's selling SoCal real estate. [[{{Narcissist}} Being who he is]], though, he's more than satisfied with flaunting the money he's made off of it, and doesn't seem to really care that he never accomplished anything outside of being rich.]]
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Offers to Catherine to have a threesome with her, himself, and Marjorie when the lesbian couple are trying for a baby.
* HypercompetentSidekick: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Though clearly thinking himself as a cut above the rest, Dan's arrogance and inability to think things through causes his advice to not only be useless not once or twice, but ''every single time'', frequently backfiring into his and/or Selina's face.
** In Season 2, he is told several times directly to his face that he is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is. Once by Kent, once by oil lobbyist Sidney Purcell, and once by Selina herself, as seen in "Hostages", where Dan's attempts to sidle up to her backfire, as the VP was in the middle of reacting to the news of a marine losing his leg. He's put in his place so severely that even ''Gary'' gloats to him about it.
-->'''Gary''': [[IronicEcho End of an era]].
** In Season 3, [[spoiler:when Selina is running for President, she promotes Dan to campaign manager. However, he ends up being unable to deal with the pressure and has a nervous breakdown. As a result, Selina replaces him with Amy.]]
** Also in Season 3, he leaks a (presumably false) story about Governor Chung being involved in the torture of Iraqi prisoners to Jonah in order to get his trashy news site discredited and shut down. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard This comes back to bite Dan in the ass]] when [[spoiler:Kent threatens to fire him because the leak has been traced back to him]]. Of course, Dan resolves this quickly enough [[spoiler:by getting Jonah to denounce the internet as his source for the story in exchange for a job with Selina]].
** In Season 4, he reveals that he's been setting up Jonah to take the fall for [[spoiler:the Medileaks scandal]] by slowly increasing his role in the administration. This, again, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard bites him in the ass]] when [[spoiler:Ben and Kent force him to resign in disgrace]].
* IgnoredEpiphany: After his attempt to seduce Felix Wade fails because, at age 39, he's too old for Felix's tastes, Dan tells Amy, [[spoiler:who is pregnant with his child]], that he's considering re-evaluating his life style of meaningless sex with women who are half his age. When Amy goes to talk to him later about possibly getting back together, she walks in on him about to have sex with another woman like he never had his epiphany.
* KarmaHoudini: Ultimately, he's this by the GrandFinale. [[spoiler:Though he's been fired by Selina, he ends up becoming a successful real estate agent and gets married to [[TrophyWife a woman some thirty years younger than him]]. His {{jerkass}}ery is never punished and he's the most happiest out of the entire cast (except for maybe Kent, who seems to have gotten a little eccentric in his old age but is otherwise happily retired, and obviously except for [[NiceGuy Richard]]). That said, it's made clear that his political career never went anywhere and that, contrary to his lofty ambitions throughout the series, [[FutureLoser he ended up remaining a posturing nobody, flaunting what little status being the most successful real estate agent in the middle of nowhere can get him]].]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: Dan gets hit with this ''repeatedly.''
** In order to damage control the Medileaks scandal, Dan offers the idea of firing an employee as a scapegoat, first an intern and later aiming to target Jonah. The Meyers Administration decides to pin it on Dan instead and he gets fired.
** While working for CBS, Dan gets his senior news anchor fired her out of revenge for her creating rumors of them having behind the scenes affairs. He ends up having poor on-air chemistry with his new partner and ends up getting sacked.
** After getting fired by Selina for a second time, Dan's final bid to further his political career is to ride Richard Splett's coattails as his new Chief of Staff. Dan is clearly hoping that he can make Richard a PuppetKing with ''him'' as the brains behind the operation. Unfortunately for Dan, Richard continues to move up the ladder without his influence and [[spoiler: when Jonah convinces the now President Selina to add Richard to her cabinet, it's on the basis that Dan would get sacked again.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: [[spoiler:He has drunken sex with Amy and ends up getting her pregnant in Season 6, despite having been told that his sperm had slow motility and neither of them are interested in having children or having families, much less commit themselves to each other.]]
* LikesOlderWomen: In a private conversation, he says that he prefers older women due to their life experience -- of course, at the time, he's flirting with Selina. Almost leads to a Mrs. Robinson moment between him and Selina, [[MomentKiller until it's ruined]] when he tells her his darkest secret: [[spoiler:he killed a stray dog on a dare.]] Subverted in Season 6, where he is outraged at the notion that he would hit on an older woman for any reason other than personal advancement.
* ManipulativeBastard: A highly skilled political jockey who can quickly defuse complex problems for Selina, while also making things better for himself. Or so he thinks.
* MayDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:In the GrandFinale, his wife is revealed to have been born in 2019]].
* {{Metaphorgotten}}:
-->'''Dan:''' ''[to Amy]'' The best way to get revenge on people is to make a shitload of money off of them! That's what Creator/MarkTwain said.
* OhCrap:
-->'''Amy:''' Remember a couple months ago after you got fired and we had drinks with Ben?\\
'''Dan:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah, we had a lot of drinks.\\
'''Amy:''' Yeah, well, [[spoiler:I'm pregnant. And it's yours.]] ''[walks away]''\\
'''Dan:''' ''({{beat}})'' ...Fuck! I really thought things were starting to turn around.
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:24 years later in the DistantFinale, he hasn't aged a day. The only major difference is a beard and a tan.]]
* RealityEnsues: No matter how skilled you are, sneaking in a bill opposed by the President and much of Congress will cause a shitstorm. [[spoiler:And result in the Veep having to veto the bill she spent ages working on. He is still dealing with the fallout as of the Season 1 finale, and possibly into Season 2.]]
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: His willingness to sell out his team or spill secrets to pander to prospective employers makes him an undesirable hire.
* SlasherSmile: It comes out when he's particularly on edge, either in victory or defeat.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Dan thinks of himself as a ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS'' style schemer. In reality, he's no more competent than the rest of the cast and simply mistakes [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing]] for political prowess.
* SmugSnake: The guy thinks of himself as a political badass and likes to rub it in people's faces.
* TheSociopath: The show is giving less-subtle hints that he seems to be of the high-functioning variety. The fact that he revealed that he [[spoiler:killed a stray dog as a child to win a dare]] is leaving little room for doubt.
* SleepingTheirWayToTheTop: He attempts it by sleeping with Amy's sister, because he thinks she can get a job for him at CBS (she actually works for CVS, a pharmacy chain).
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives a devastating one to Jonah.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: A rare [[InvertedTrope inversion]] - Dan sells out his boss, Senator Hallows, to dig Selina out of a scandal. In the process he gets a job on the Veep's staff. It's clear from earlier dialogue he sees the Senator as merely a stepping stone on his career.}
* {{Workaholic}}: Dan doesn't seem to have a personal life at all. He mentions dating a woman in "Nicknames", but only to further his political career. When he finds out that she won't get an important job, he dumps her immediately. (He sleeps with numerous other women, but never has any meanignful relationships).
* WorkingWithTheEx: Amy does not have a high opinion of him. Well, not his competence, but his personality.
* WrongGenreSavvy: As shown above, he thinks he's far smarter than everyone and fantastic at his job, not grasping he's as much an incompetent nut as the rest of the staff.

[[folder:Mike [=McLintock=]]]
->'''Played By:''' Matt Walsh

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_mikemclintock2_4456.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"Hey, you can't read everything. I don't read everything I'm supposed to".]]

The rather incompetent Director of Communications for the Vice President. At the end of season 3, he becomes the White House Press Secretary. After the end of the Meyer administration, Mike briefly becomes a stay-at-home dad before joining Selina's charitable foundation.

* BeleagueredAssistant
* BigEater: Mike is usually seen stuffing his face whenever there is food around.
-->'''Jonah:''' Okay, Mike. One day, you're going to wake up and find that your lungs have turned into pastry.
** In season 4, he tries to eat more healthy at the insistence of his wife.
--->'''Dan:''' Mike trying to be healthy. It's like a potato trying to whistle.
* BrickJoke: His Bullshitzu.
* DeadpanSnarker
* {{Flanderization}}: In early seasons, Mike shows some signs of incompetence, but is also generally capable of doing his job and defusing the frequent threats to it posed by the various political storms Selena gets into. By the latter seasons, he can barely function as an independent adult, never mind as a Washington speechwriter.
* HiddenDepths: Mike screws up at his job countless times, but seems to be genuinely good at schmoozing and making the administration more likable to the press.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He gets Selina to cry in an interview with the hope of making her look sympathetic. The GenreSavvy Journalist figures this out quickly.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: When listing the bad things that could possibly happen and overshadow the [[ItMakesSenseInContext plastic untensil incident]], he hypothetically suggests that Creator/TomHanks might die. Everyone is horrified by this.
** In another example, after Selina tears into him for incompetence, he only attempts to rebuff the last part:
---> '''Selina''': Remind me never to get trapped in a burning building with you, Mike.
---> '''Mike''': I'm very good in a fire.
* IllPretendIDidntHearThat: Mike always tries to ignore it when the Veeple People learn about something scandalous.
--> '''Mike:''' ''(cringing)'' Christ, I hate knowledge.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Mike accidentally emails everyone in the West Wing the contents of Kent's flash drive, which contained polling questions like "what if POTUS lied to the American people?" and thus alerts everyone about the spy cover-up.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Described by Anthony, one of the owners of [[InsistentTerminology frozen yoghurt]] shop as a "gay Irish fireman."
* RunningGag: In season 2, the boat he's trying to get rid of.
* SuperGullible: In "Mother," he can be seen falling for a blatantly obvious pyramid scheme set up by Selina's ex-husband Andrew.
* UltimateJobSecurity: Mike is in charge of Selina's PR, so his incompetence turns a great many of her mistakes into fullblown scandals. However, Selina keeps him on despite his incompetence. [[spoiler:Subverted in Season 5, where Selina decides to find a new Press Secretary to replace Mike, but she loses her bid for re-election before anything comes of it.]]
** [[spoiler:Finally comes to an end in season 6, as Mike is not included in Selina's team during her new campaign for president.]]
* WoundedGazelleGambit: A variant. He gets Selina to cry on camera with the hope of playing up her sympathetic traits. Backfires: see HoistByHisOwnPetard.

[[folder:Jonah Ryan]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/TimothySimons

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_jonahryan_8387.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"I'm from the White House, and what the fuck are you doing?"]]

A freshman congressman from New Hampshire; formerly the White House Liaison to the Vice President's office, and a notorious(ly bad) womanizer. In Season 3 he is fired from the White House, but is taken back on as part of a deal. In Season 5, he's elected to Congress.

* [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale Abuse is Funny When It's Male On Male]]: Averted. In season 4, he gets a new boss, Teddy, who [[spoiler:frequently fondles his balls as a power move in the office]]. It's never PlayedForLaughs, and when Dan witnesses it, he's [[EvenEvilHasStandards genuinely outraged]].
** [[spoiler:It gets even more averted when Jonah seems genuinely scarred by the experience for several episodes afterwards, and asked to testify in a class action lawsuit against Teddy in 4x06. ]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: Jonah hints at having a learning disorder (what he describes as "dyslexia, but for numbers"note , which is why he failed algebra). Whether this is legitimate or merely an excuse for his boorish behavior and poor performance in school is unknown.
* BrickJoke: His obsession with getting laid by Eights.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Marries his former step-sister during his presidential campaign. Amazingly, the media learning of this relationship actually increases his poll numbers, even after their parents get back together. [[spoiler:It later turns out that her father is Jonah's biological father, making them actual half-siblings.]]
* ButtMonkey: He is hated by pretty much everyone in the Vice President's office. And the Administration. And the District. And possibly in the world.
* CannotTellAJoke: He's so inept at talking about anything that telling funny jokes is out of his league.
* CasanovaWannabe: Hits on Amy, Sue, and pretty much every attractive girl he comes into contact with. Always rebuffed due to his boorishness and rude personality.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: He can't read the room on a frequent basis.
** He does this several times when dealing with the subject matter of Teddy [[spoiler:grabbing his balls]].
*** He makes the WrongAssumption about what Kent and Eric (and Sue) were calling him about in regards to "what happened in the Vice President [Doyle]'s office" and reluctantly admits that Teddy [[spoiler:molested him]]... which wasn't what they were asking about (and it's interesting news to them, [[AdultsAreUseless but they don't do anything about it]]). Later, he tries to talk to Catherine about it (probably to tell her that he isn't a loser that got [[spoiler:molested]]) since she had walked in on the call, but she has no idea what he's talking about since she came in after he confessed.
*** He walks out on a class action lawsuit against Teddy because he found out all of the other victims were women, [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale which he thinks means he's a wimp]].
** In a deleted scene, he forgets that he and Dan agreed to {{unperson}} Ed earlier that episode, leading to Dan trying to refer back to it in a joke by asking "Who?" whenever Jonah brings him up. [[DontExplainTheJoke When Dan reminds him]], [[AnnoyingLaugh Jonah laughs much more than what was needed]].
** He frequently makes unintentionally misogynistic remarks and still has no idea why women feel uncomfortable around him.
* DaddyIssues: [[DisappearedDad His biological dad is not in the picture]] and he hates his stepdad, Lloyd, for being strict on him and giving him bad grades in math class. [[spoiler:Even worse when it turns out that his stepdad ''is'' his biological dad.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: His presidential run in Season 7 is an unsubtle rip towards Creator/DonaldTrump's controversial presidency (or is a reference to criticisms of his presidency) at the time. For example, Jonah makes Islamophobic remarks that gain him popularity amongst Islamophobes, white supremacists, and racists, as well as demanding Selina show her birth certificate to prove her real age (referencing accusations that Creator/BarackObama is not American-born and that he should prove his heritage by showing his birth certificate).
* TheDogBitesBack:
** In Season 5, Jonah gets sick of Selina bossing him around and decides to campaign on an anti-Meyer platform. It works wonders for his polling, which suits Selina just fine.
** In Season 7, Jonah hires Teddy, who used to sexually harass him, just so he can make fun of Teddy for being chemically castrated as punishment for his sexual harassment.
* DrunkOnPower: As Jonah moves up the political ladder, he becomes more and more unhinged and vile.
* DumbassHasAPoint:
** Kent tells him to get his "cerise"-colored binder and gets mad at him when he brings three red-colored binders including the cerise-colored binder and a cherry-red binder. To anyone else, cerise and cherry-red look like the exact shade of red.
** Both "Daylight Saving Time" and "Daylight Savings Time" are valid ways of calling the term.
** He hates Daylight Savings Time for being inconveniencing, which is more of a popular and reasonable sentiment than the rest of the smarter cast may think.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: To set up just ''how'' much of a hapless loser Jonah is, the first person to really lay into him is Mike, of all people, the character in which numerous jabs had already been made at remarking his incompetence
* FoxNewsLiberal: By Season 7, Jonah has essentially become a far-right conspiracy theorist, yet is still running for the Democratic nomination. [[spoiler: He even becomes one of the frontrunners during the GrandFinale specifically because of Islamophobic statements he has made.]]
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: He's frequently the most inept member of the group and the rest of the staff find him annoying to be around, even when he's trying to be nice. Although he's had a few moments where he does genuinely get along with Dan.
-->'''Jonah:''' Good morning!\\
'''Ben:''' Ugh, how do you make two perfectly good words sound so irritating?
* FromNobodyToNightmare: He goes from a three-month internship to a White House Liaison somehow drunk with power...and things get worse and worse from there until [[spoiler:he gets elected to Congress, shuts down the government out of spite, and sets himself up for a presidential run at the end of Season 6. Fortunately, he only has scores about 3% in the polls... but then Selina makes him her VP. Though she eventually has him impeached.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: Does this incessantly. Not only does he call the President POTUS ("Poh-tuss"), but he also calls the Veep VPOTUS ("Vee-poh-tuss"), the First Dog of the United States FDOTUS ("F-doh-tus"), and makes them up pretty much on the fly, such as VPVP ("Vice Presidential Visual Presence"). This annoys everybody.
--> '''Mike''': You can't just make up acronyms, Jonah.
--> '''Jonah''': Somebody has to, Mike.
* HairTriggerTemper: Because of how much of a petty, abrasive and moody manchild Jonah is, he tends to constantly act out in fits of rage when he feels offended
* HumiliationConga: In "Some New Beginnings" he gets outed as being behind the "[=WestWingMan=]" blog, fired from his White House job, and nearly dragged out of the building by security guards.
* IgnoredEpiphany:
** After being repeatedly sexually harassed, Jonah finally realizes that sexual harassment is a terrible thing. Unfortunately, Jonah only cares about sexual harassment perpetrated against men and remains as misogynistic as ever.
** After trying to get rid of Daylight Savings Time in Season 6, in Season 7, he promises to his supporters that he'll ban math because [[InsaneTrollLogic it was invented by the Algerians, who are Muslims, and everyone hates Muslims.]] And once again, it's also because of a grudge (he hates DST because it made him late for an appointment, he hates math because his math teacher, his stepdad, kept giving him bad grades).
* InsultBackfire: While accusing Montez of discriminating against him for being "almost Jewish".
-->'''Montez:''' Why don't you go take it up with the Anti-Defamation League?\\
'''Jonah:''' The ''fuck'' is that?\\
'''Montez:''' Wow, okay. My offer is not gonna be on the table for long, good afternoon, gentlemen.
* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: It's Daylight Saving Time, not saving''s'' ([[DumbassHasAPoint which is actually just as valid as any other alternative spelling]] like "color" and "colour").
* {{Jerkass}}: Jonah is a selfish, arrogant and narcissistic asshole, who is also incredibly annoying, smug and immature during social interactions. Pretty much everyone who knows him holds him in contempt. It is his lack of self-awareness that really stops him from being TheScrappy.
-->'''Mike:''' I'm appealing to your better nature.
-->'''Jonah:''' Mike, I don't have one of those.
* KickedUpstairs: In Season 5, he's recruited to run for an open seat in the House of Representatives by the Meyer administration and his uncle Jeff Kane, a prominent New Hampshire political figure who actually wants the seat to go to his son Ezra, who is deployed in Afghanistan. Jonah is described as being so ineffectual that he'll be easy to replace when Ezra comes home, but as Jonah himself points out, he's very, very good at hanging onto positions he's never really deserved. In the finale, [[spoiler:Selina makes him veep to get his delegates, while making sure that he has no authority.]]
--> '''Jonah''': I went to the White House on a three-month placement and stayed for four years! I'm a MRSA infection! ''You don't get rid of Jonah Ryan!''
* LaserGuidedKarma:
** [[spoiler: His anti-vax crusade leads to the death of his own father.]]
** [[spoiler: He is made Vice President, a position that Selina guarantees he will have no power in. In the future it is revealed he was impeached and has lost his other testicle to cancer.]]
* MemeticMolester: In-universe, he is described as having the face of a rapist. When Doyle hears that sexual harassment occurred in his office, he immediately thinks it was Jonah (actually he was the victim).
--> '''Jonah''': May I remind you this rapist face gets eights? Consensually, I might add.
* MeaningfulName: Whether or not this was intentional... his name is Jonah and he's [[Literature/TheBible supremely unlucky]].
* MommasBoy: He frequently calls his mom.
* {{Nepotism}}: Sort of. As we learn in Season 3, he only got a job in the White House because his uncle has important political connections in New Hampshire. Jonah, however, refuses to acknowledge this.
--> '''Jonah:''' Mom, do you think that you could talk to Uncle Jeff for me? I want a job on my own merits and I think he's the guy to get it for me.
* NoodleIncident: He's been banned from Uber because he has a low rating. It's not hard to imagine why.
* ObfuscatingDisability: In Season 6, he hides the fact that his cancer is in remission and shaves his head because being a cancer patient is good for his approval ratings.
* OnceAnEpisode: He will point out he works at the White House. And hit on Amy. And Sue. And everyone. See the character quote.
* [[spoiler: {{Patricide}}]]: [[spoiler: His anti-vax crusade leads to his father's death.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Dan tears into him when he finds out Jonah's position is so unimportant he cannot be used for information.
** Jonah gives an epic denouncement against Teddy in Season 5, calling people like him (i.e. sexual harassers) soulless. Unfortunately for Jonah, Bill Ericsson's creative camera work makes it look like Jonah's rant was directed at a woman with Down Syndrome.
* RunningGag:
** Hey, did you know he works at the White House? [[spoiler:This ends in season 3, since he no longer works there]].
** Him doing something misogynistic and causing women around him to perform the Girl Code for each other.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Vastly overstates the importance of his position, and is severely lacking in self-awareness. This gets even worse in season 3 when [[spoiler:he's fired, and insists that the pathetic trashy gossip blog he's set up is making him an IntrepidReporter who's going to bring Washington to its knees.]]
* SpannerInTheWorks: Jonah throws Furlong and Montez's plans into chaos when he has his "Jeffersons" caucus vote against the bipartisan budget bill, for no reason beyond spiting Furlong and the rest of Congress for not taking him seriously.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: While Montez's assistant introduces her to Jonah in a meeting, Jonah says that they don't need guards because because "it's not like [he's] gonna rape [Montez]". Montez takes it as this trope and Jonah says that it literally means that he ''wouldn't'' rape Montez.
* UndyingLoyalty: To his OnlyFriend, Richard. Despite their OddFriendship, Jonah does value his friendship. [[spoiler: He eventually ensures that Richard is given a cabinet position, which helps pave the way for Richard becoming President.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: While riding with Richard, Jonah gets mad at him for not driving faster (because he's holding a camera at the same time) and Richard ends up crashing into a stop sign. Richard is at least relieved that he didn't hit the schoolchildren about to cross the street, but Jonah doesn't give a damn about them.

[[folder:Sue Wilson-Levinson]]
->'''Played By:''' Sufe Bradshaw
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1sue_114.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"Hello, what do you want, you can't have it, goodbye."]]

The Personal Assistant to the Vice President. Probably the most competent member of her staff. She retains her position in the Montez administration.

* AdultsAreUseless: She doesn't do anything when Jonah reveals that [[spoiler:he's being sexually harassed by Teddy.]]
* AdvertisedExtra: Appears mostly in background scenes, either with her RunningGag or a snark, despite being listed on the credits. She gets more screen time and a more fully-rounded character starting Season 2.
* BackForTheFinale: After being absent from Season 6 and most of Season 7, Sue returns for the finale where [[spoiler:she is back as Selina's secretary in the White House preventing Jonah and Amy from meeting with Selina.]]
* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: Moreso than any other member of Selina's staff, Sue keeps her personal and professional life completely seperated. Late in season 5 she even shocks Kent with the revelation that she had been married for the past year.
* BeleagueredAssistant: A possible aversion, although we never see.
* [[BluntYes Blunt No]]: See RunningGag.
* DeadpanSnarker: A particularly icy flavor of snark.
* FlatCharacter: Sue doesn't get much characterization outside of being ruthlessly efficient. Then again, given how guarded she is about her personal life, it's probably [[JustifiedTrope justified]].
* HiddenDepths:
** Claims to have been married a year prior to the presidential election. She didn't invite anyone from work, naturally. Apparently Catherine knew, however, since her new last name is revealed in the documentary.
** Apparently she knows enough Korean to say "I hate you" to Mike.
* [[MaleGaze Female Gaze]]: Mike jokingly accuses Sue of undressing him with her eyes.
--> '''Sue''': I'm adding more clothes, Mike.
* NotSoStoic: Usually Sue is the calm and collected member of Selina's staff, but she breaks under the pressure of a Congressional committee.
* OlderThanTheyLook: PlayedForLaughs in that Ben's politcal mentor fondly remembers Sue from work they did together in the past, causing Kent to question exactly how old she is.
* PutOnABus: She appears to have exited the series at the end of Season 5, when she remains in the Montez administration.
* RunningGag: In season 1:
--> '''Selina''': Sue, did the President call?
--> '''Sue''': No.
* TheStoic: Sue remains calm and professional in almost every situation. As seen in "Convention", her "elated face" is almost the same as her normal face, save from a slight hint of a smile. In "Mommy Meyer", when there's an intruder in the White House, Sue calmly keeps doing her work and even hushes a Secret Service man.
* TokenMinority: She seems to be the only black person on Selina's staff.

[[folder:Ben Cafferty]]
->'''Played By:''' Kevin Dunn

The long-suffering White House Chief of Staff for President Hughes and his successor, Selina Meyer. He and the President were college buddies. Politics has taken its toll on him. After the end of the Meyer administration and a failed stint as a Silicon Valley consultant, Ben becomes one of Jonah's advisors.

* TheAlcoholic: He isn't shy about it either.
-->'''Amy''': Anyone who talks about work tonight has to take a drink.\\
'''Ben''': Work. ''(Takes a drink)''
* BusCrash: [[spoiler:He eventually passes away from natural causes sometime between the present day of the GrandFinale and the DistantFinale.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: With the added bonus of being completely immune to any insults directed back at him (see StoppedCaring).
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: While working as a consultant for Uber, Ben makes the mistake of using the word "Chinaman" in front of Uber's board, which has at least two East Asian people on it. When they call him out on his use of a slur, he responds with [[SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX "my wife is oriental."]] They promptly fire him.
* TheEeyore: Explicitly referred to as such by Selina.
* HasAType: Two of his three wives were Asian nurses, and he has a MeetCute with another in the finale.
* JadedWashout: Selina refers to him as a "burned-out loser".
* MarriedToTheJob: Goes with being the White House chief of staff. Subverted in that it appears he's still HappilyMarried.
* MoralityChain: Not quite, but he's part of Selina's conscience. [[spoiler:To the point that in the GrandFinale, when he has a heart attack and gets hospitalized, she confesses to him that she doesn't know what to do without him. This leads to her finding her own way to become president, which composes of several decisions that result in her alienating her all of her allies.]]
* MustHaveCaffeine: His coffee mug can hold nine-cups worth and he claims that if a fire were to happen in the West Wing, it would be the only thing he'd salvage.
* OhCrap: Discussed.
-->'''Kent:''' Your idea of "crisis management" is running around screaming "Bury me, we're fucked!"\\
'''Ben:''' Bury me, we're fucked!
* [[ReallyGetsAround Really Got Around]]: When discussing the possibility that Thornhill might have had an affair with a mystery person.
--> '''Selina:''' Eight years ago? It could have been anyone. Could have been Ben.
--> '''Ben:''' Yeah, I poked everything that moved back then.
* PlayingBothSides: Ben's is a trusted ally of both the despotic President of Georgia and the leader of the Georgian opposition party.
* StoppedCaring: This insulates him from the stress the rest of the cast endures for all the internal jockeying... Leaving him free to absorb all the stress of the real-world problems the Oval Office faces.
--> '''Selina:''' ''(In response to learning about the number of pro-life and pro-choice lobbyists that she has to listen to)'' Is there a "pro-I-don't-give-a-shit" lobby?
--> '''Ben''' Yeah, you're looking at him. I got posters, buttons,... not really, [[ShapedLikeItself because I don't give a shit]].
* UndyingLoyalty: To Selina, even before she became president.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kent Davison]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/GaryCole

White House polling adviser and senior strategist. He was also the strategist for the President on his campaign trail and forced Selina into unwanted PR situations with her ex-husband. After the end of the Meyer Administration, Kent becomes one of Jonah's advisors.
----
* AdultsAreUseless: He doesn't do anything when Jonah reveals that [[spoiler:he's being sexually harassed by Teddy.]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: He's incredibly meticulous, exhibits some {{cloudcuckoolander}} behavior, and has difficulty emphasizing with others. While the last one can be attributed to the White House being a WorldOfJerkass, some viewers have taken these traits as evidence that he may be on the autism spectrum.
* BadassBiker: As revealed in Catherine's documentary. [[spoiler:In the DistantFinale, he's shown in full biker gang regalia after retiring from politics.]]
* BrutalHonesty: When Ellen (Mike's adopted daughter from China) says that she wants to be president of the United States, he bluntly tells her that she cannot (since one of the criteria is that you have to be born in the U.S.).
* CastingGag: Creator/GaryCole previously played VP Bob Russell in ''Series/TheWestWing'', who was also a sucky Veep that wanted to be President.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Some of his behavior is ascribed to this, like his [[StylisticSuck terrible workout outfit]]. Might be a result of AmbiguousDisorder.
* DamnedByFaintPraise: In Season 6, he's one of Jonah's advisors alongside Ben. While arguing with Furlong, who is making fun of Jonah becoming a Congressman and Kent scraping the bottom of the barrel by working for Jonah, Jonah says that Kent ''totally'' loves working for him, right, Kent? Kent says nothing.
* DeadpanSnarker: So much so that it's hard to tell when he's kidding.
-->'''Selina:''' Oh Kent, don't be funny.\\
'''Kent:''' Ma'am, I haven't been funny since 1987.
* DullSurprise: Kent's default expression rarely ever changes.
--> '''Selina:''' [Kent]'s got that blank look, I bet he doesn't even have a cumface. Can you imagine fucking that guy?
* EarnYourHappyEnding: In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:it is mentioned that he's happily retired (he makes watches and owns a ranch) and has a daughter now (who [[LikeFatherLikeSon works at NASA]], but plans to step down to take over the ranch). This also means that he probably got married, which is good for him considering what happened with [[ShipSinking Sue]] and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Julia]].]]
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** In Season 7, he's wary about Selina trying to hide her crimes because this is obviously illegal. This is likely for [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic reasons]] though rather than any moral standards.
** In the GrandFinale, he and Amy try to convince Selina that [[spoiler:picking Jonah as her running mate is a bad idea]]. When she refuses to listen, [[spoiler:Kent {{ragequit}}s.]]
* EyeScream: Gets hit in the eye by Selina's lipstick in his debut episode.
* FireForgedFriends: To some extent. In his debut, he starts out as somewhat antagonistic to the rest of the cast (such as Selina viewing him as a nuisance and a foreigner to her team), but eventually fits right in. Particularly seems to be one to [[ThoseTwoGuys Ben]].
* GetOut: In "Midterms", when he yells at Jonah to pack his stuff and leave after leaking that President Hughes isn't running for re-election.
-->'''Jonah:''' Sir, this POTUS 'OK' this?!\\
'''Kent:''' '''''GET HIM OUT OF HERE!'''''
* TheGlomp: Is subjected to one by Selina at one point.
* HonoraryUncle: Averted. Though Selina introduces herself and Ben to Ellen, Mike's adopted daughter, she calls herself Ellen's "Auntie Selina" and Ben as "Uncle Benny" to get on Ellen's good side. Kent plainly introduces himself as "Kent Davison, Chief Strategist".
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: He debuts as working for the President, to starting Season 6 working for [[ButtMonkey Jonah]] after Selina doesn't get re-elected. Furlong even comments on this. By the end of Season 6, Kent manages to get fired by pissing off Jonah and he's more than happy to leave and return to working for Selina.
* HiddenDepths: He's a BadassBiker and he knows how to speak Spanish.
* MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext: Goes on a tangent about how dealing with a hostage situation is not that different from cooking a cup of microwavable noodles: "Both require precision timing, neither should be rushed."
-->'''Amy:''' Why are we talking about noodles?\\
'''Ben:''' No, let me rephrase that. Why the ''fuck'' are we talking about noodles?
* NoSenseOfHumor: Claims to not having been funny on purpose since 1987.
* NotSoAboveItAll: He expressed interest in [[{{Squick}} watching the gang throw Mike's expired cum]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext at Jonah's door]].
* OhCrap: The disappointed variant when he learns that [[spoiler:Sue [[ShipSinking is married]].]] A more traditional variant when a desperate Selina [[spoiler:offers to make Jonah her Veep to get the nomination.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Near the end of the episode of his very debut, he's yelling in pain from being [[EyeScream hit in the eye by Selina's lipstick]].
** In "Some New Business", he shouts in anger when he finds out Jonah has accidentally revealed on his blog that President Hughes wasn't running for reelection. He promptly fires him and tells him to GetOut.
-->'''Kent:''' The party's over, Mr. [="WestWingMan"=]. There's a dead guy in the pool and that dead guy is ''you!''
** In the GrandFinale: [[spoiler:"FUCK THE NUMBERS!"]]
* PrecisionFStrike: [[spoiler:Yells "FUCK THE NUMBERS!" when Selina argues that because he's "the numbers guy", he should be supportive of her decision to choose Jonah as her running mate because doing so will help her win.]]
* RageQuit: [[spoiler:In the GrandFinale, after Jonah is confirmed as Selina's running mate, he walks out during the celebration and throws away his badge and tie.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: To Ben.
* SherlockScan: He is apparently able to determine the sex of an unborn child after briefly looking at the (fully-clothed) pregnant woman. [[spoiler:He's correct.]]
* SirSwearsALot: Inverted. He's one of the few characters that doesn't cuss often. He's had his moments, though, and in one instance, he excuses himself for his "ribaldry".
** He swears when Selina accidentally throws a lipstick at his eye in "Midterms".
** In the GrandFinale, when [[spoiler:Selina reveals she's asking Jonah to be her running mate, he snaps and yells "[[PrecisionFStrike FUCK]] THE NUMBERS!"]].
* TheSpock: Kent only cares about facts and numbers. Others often describe him as emotionless and robot-like.
* TheStoic: He has about as much emotion as a rock. He does smile, although this is mainly for PR, and he does display anger a couple of times.
* TakeThisJobAndShoveIt: [[spoiler:In the GrandFinale, after Selina brings in ''Jonah'' as her running mate, he snaps, quits, and retires.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: With the more unserious Ben.
-->'''Kent:''' You know, all this melodrama really explains your three divorces!\\
'''Ben:''' Yeah, well, I'd like to divorce your head from your neck!
* TheUnSmile: He pretends to smile while Selina sings at the Vic Allen dinner, which was a song written to make fun of him.
--> '''Kent:''' Ma'am, your song last night made my lips curl. Upwards.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Sue! Everyone else just wants to know what the heck's going on. It seems to have ended when it turns out that Sue is married, and in Season 6, Kent is dating a new girl, Julia.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At the beginning of Season 7, it is mentioned that he is no longer dating Julia, his deaf girlfriend from Season 6. According to Selina, "the police have found no leads". WordOfSaintPaul states that it doesn't necessarily mean she's dead, but who knows.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Richard Splett]]
->'''Played By:''' Sam Richardson

A bumbling young assistant who first appears on Selina's book campaign trail, and later ends up working on the Meyer campaign. In Season 4, he's promoted to Jonah's assistant in the White House. After the end of the Meyer administration, Richard becomes Selina's personal assistant.
----
* TheDilbertPrinciple: A rare positive example, Richard is incredibly inept and naïve that he is seemingly not fit for the cutthroat nature of politics. But he continues to rise in season 7 thanks to these qualities. [[spoiler: Then for all of it, he ends up President and is actually very good at the job.]]
* GeniusDitz: Richard is supremely incompetent; he even manages to get his own name wrong while introducing himself. However, he has two doctorates and an encyclopedic knowledge about recount procedures (which was his doctoral subject.) [[spoiler:When he becomes President, he gets the Nobel Peace Prize for using a "three state solution" to bring peace to the Middle East.]]
* HiddenDepths:
** :Has two doctorates - one in veterinary science, and one in constitutional law.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler:he apparently grows competent enough to become president for two terms as well as finding a solution to bring peace to the Middle East.]]
** While helping Jonah prep for his upcoming debate during his Congressional Campaign, it's noted by Jonah's uncle that Richard is actually a very charismatic debater.[[spoiler: This ends up foreshadowing Richard's future successful political career.]]
* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: It's Splett, not "split" or "splat".
* KarmicJackpot: Richard's [[OnlyFriend kindess and respect]] towards Jonah gets paid forward in a big way [[spoiler: when Jonah ensures that Richard gets a cabinet position in Selina's administration. This ends up setting the stage for Richard's own future presidency.]]
* NiceGuy: In stark contrast with pretty much every other character, Richard is unfailingly nice and polite to everyone.
* OnlyFriend: Going along with his unfailing NiceGuy status, Richard is the only reoccuring character who is consistently nice to ''[[TheChewToy Jonah]].'' He even visits Jonah to try and cheer him up after his engagement fell apart and he was forced out of his position of Congressman by his uncle.
* PerpetualSmiler: Teetering on StepfordSmiler, depending on how aware he actually is of his status.
* PlayingBothSides: PlayedForLaughs. In Season 7, he helps both Selina and Jonah on their presidential campaigns and also ends up becoming a town mayor [[spoiler:and then the ''governor'' of Iowa, a state with an important role in the election]]. To the public, he may look like a ManipulativeBastard, but the truth is that he's just having trouble choosing between which one of his bosses he wants to support because [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter they're both wonderful people]].
* ThePollyanna: Richard is oblivious to how selfish the rest of the cast is and how they find him extremely annoying.
* SkilledButNaive: This trope pretty much sums Richard up--he's very smart, as evidenced by the fact that he has ''multiple'' [=PhD=]s, but is hopelessly innocent in the world of Washington. [[spoiler:Although by the end of the series, it doesn't appear to have been a huge problem for him, as he gets elected President.]]
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Richard frequently found himself the butt of insults for seemingly having no actual function in DC. At first serving as Amy's assistant until later working under Jonah. Come Season 5, during when Selina's bid for presidential election undergoes recounts. It gets revealed that Richard has a Doctorate in Constitutional Law, making him an expert in recounts.
* TokenBlack: He's the only black man and person-of-color in the main cast after Sue [[spoiler:joins the Montez administration]].
* TokenGoodTeammate: He's maybe the only genuinely good person in Selina's team.
* UnfortunateNames: Lampshaded in-universe. One time when he introduced himself, he corrected someone on [[ItsPronouncedTroPAY the pronunciation of his last name]].
** "Dick" is a common nickname for people named Richard, which would make him Dick Splett...
** In [[spoiler:the DistantFinale]], his wife's name is Annette Splett... ([[DontExplainTheJoke it sounds like "anus split"]]).
* VirginityMakesYouStupid: He's TheDitz (albeit a GeniusDitz) and it turns out that he's never masturbated before Catherine and her girlfriend wanted him to be their sperm donor, leading to him asking if it hurts, how the sperm cup comes into play, and when does he know when he's done. Apparently, he comes from a religious family that views masturbation as sinful, along with [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking microwaves and laughter]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Catherine Meyer]]
->'''Played By:''' Sarah Sutherland

Selina's college-aged daughter, who has a contentious relationship with her mother mainly due to the latter's political career.
----
* AllLesbiansWantKids: She and Marjorie have a son after seasons of Catherine not seeming interested in having kids at all. Though she does suffer from postpartum depression.
* BourgeoisBohemian: In Catherine's defence, she wants to do genuinely good work, in contrast to Selina's self-centredness, but she was born into a family of millionaires and billionaires, before inheriting billions herself, and has [[ADegreeInUseless a degree in "interpretative dance,"]] and is generally quite out of touch with those who are less wealthy than she is.
-->'''Catherine:''' Once I got used to all the regular people and how fat they were, I really enjoyed it.
* TheChewToy: Things rarely seem to go right for poor Catherine, and her mother's constant belittling certainly doesn't help. Of course, since it's ''Veep'', it's all played for laughs.
-->'''Selina:''' Catherine, why is that your hair?
* TheDogBitesBack: Her wealthy grandmother leaves Catherine the majority of her estate, much to Selina's shock and displeasure. When Selina loses the White House, she finds herself financially dependent on Catherine, who places her mother on a strict, but reasonable budget. [[spoiler:In the DistantFinale, she not only refuses to attend her mother's funeral, but is treating the day as a celebration watching the news it with Marjorie and Little Richard.]]
* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: She was this, with perhaps providing the ultimate example when she punched a guy in the face who was threatening Selina. [[spoiler:However, she ultimately loses this respect and, indeed, any love for her mother at all when she permanently overturns gay marriage just for her political career.]]
* FakeGuestStar: From Season 4 onwards, she's in almost every episode and gets about the same amount of screentime as the regulars, but Sarah Sutherland remains credited as a guest star until the final season.
* GranolaGirl: Has shades of this, especially after [[spoiler: giving birth to Little Richard and hopping on board with several New Age parenting techniques.]]
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Selina paid more attention to her political career than to Catherine. Catherine's favorite family vacation was the time the housekeeper took her to Disneyland with her family. In "Alicia", Catherine outright tells her mother that she had a "hard, lonely, miserable life".
* LipstickLesbian: While not overly girly, she prefers the feminine boho look in contrast to her [[ButchLesbian masculine]] wife Marjorie.
* MartialPacifist: Given her liberal views, she's very anti-violence. However, she instinctively punches out a protester who attacks Selina--and is horrified afterwards.
-->'''Amy:''' You punched that guy square in the face.
-->'''Catherine:''' No! No, I hate violence!
-->'''Selina:''' Well, honey, that means you're really good at it and you didn't even know it.
* NiceGirl: As shown in her documentary, off-screen everyone besides her mother seems to genuinely like her.
* OedipusComplex: In Season 5, [[spoiler:she not only reveals that she's a lesbian, but that she's dating Selina's bodyguard. That is, a woman who got her job largely because of how much she resembles Catherine's mother.]]
* ProneToTears: Cries at the drop of a hat. Taken UpToEleven in Season 7, when she suffers from postpartum depression after giving birth to Little Richard, leading her to have emotional breakdowns [[OncePerEpisode nearly every episode]].
* RichKidTurnedSocialActivist: Which Selina seems to find inexplicable and annoying, because she genuinely doesn't understand that Catherine genuinely cares for her causes.
* SheCleansUpNicely: She gets a new stylist in the season 5 finale who improves her looks so much that Dan doesn't even recognize her at first.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: In the GrandFinale, when she learns that [[spoiler:Selina has agreed to outlaw gay marriage in order to get Buddy Calhoun's support, she tells her that she'll never forgive her if she really does go through with it. Needless to say, Catherine is serious about this, as she ends up cutting ties with her mother and never sees her again.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:Catherine tells Doyle that Selina plans to break her promise to appoint Doyle Secretary of State. This leads Doyle to vote for Montez over Tom James, effectively ending Selina's career.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marjorie Palmiotti]]
->'''Played By:''' Clea [=DuVall=]
Selina's Secret Service body double. She later becomes Catherine's life partner.
----
* AllLesbiansWantKids: She and Catherine have a child, Little Richard, after seasons of Catherine especially seeming to have no interest in having kids.
* ButchLesbian: She has a very deep voice, masculine way of dressing, and she is a soldier turned bodyguard, and she becomes Catherine's life partner.
* CannotTellAJoke: Her jokes about how Selina "gave her [=AIDS=]"[[note]]Referring to how Selina publically announced that her charitable foundation, which she has Marjorie run, is going to do [=AIDS=] charity work without consulting with Marjorie first[[/note]] fall flat because her deadpan manner makes everyone who hears it worry that she's being serious.
* ConsummateProfessional: Is always completely professional. While at first this seems to be just ordinary Secret Service behavior, she continues to act like this even after she leaves the Service.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Shares many of Catherine's liberal principles. But the biggest is that she declares that even though Selina is a horrible mother, Andrew is a far worse father. [[IllTakeThatAsACompliment Selina approves of this evaluation.]]
* FakeGuestStar: Clea [=DuVall=] was credited as a guest star until the final season, even though Marjorie was effectively a member of the main cast as soon as she was introduced.
* HiddenDepths: Catherine's documentary in "Kissing Your Sister" shows that she is capable of behaving casually when its just her and Catherine.
** The same episode also reveals that at the time she had first begun dating Catherine, she was still in the closet to her family.
* NotSoStoic: In the finale, she flips out and has to be restrained by Catherine when she learns that [[spoiler:Selina is making Jonah veep.]]
* SourSupporter: She despises Selina almost as much as Catherine does, but still works for her.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: She shows skills as a sharpshooter, someone asks if she was in the CIA, she responds, "I was an advisor."
* TheStoic: Almost never shows any sign of emotion.
[[/folder]]

!!Recurring Cast

[[folder:Andrew Meyer]]
->'''Played By:''' David Pasquesi
Selina's ex-husband, a property developer, to whom she was married for 12 years and with whom she still has an on-and-off again affair.
----
* BelligerentSexualTension: Between him and Selina. In "Andrew", during a dinner they alternate between flirting and fighting in a matter of minutes.
* BusCrash: [[spoiler:Near the end of Season 7, Selina is told that he was aboard the ''Labor Day'' when it sunk. [[FakingTheDead However...]]]]
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: In season 6 he tries to get the Meyer Fund into several million-dollar quid pro quos with shady foreign nationals.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Bears a number of similarities to Anthony Weiner, particularly with his affairs and his getting everyone associated with him into hot water.
* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Despite supposedly being dead, he makes cameo appearances in "Oslo" and "Veep". In "Veep", he's the mustached man pushing past Dan, Amy, and Kent at Selina's funeral.]]
* KickTheDog: In Season 7, he and Selina come up with trying to frame Marjorie for the Meyer Fund. Andrew does consider that doing this would hurt Catherine, but it doesn't stop them.
* SexWithTheEx: Andrew and Selina have casual sex several times in seasons 2 and 3.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Andrew Doyle]]
->'''Played By:''' Phil Reeves
A highly influential U.S. Senator and the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. In Season 4, he becomes Selina Meyer's choice for the office of Vice President. Dropped from the presidential ticket and replaced by Tom James.
----
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:He casts the deciding for vote Senator Montez, making her the new president, after Selina lies to him one time too many.]]
* EverybodyHasStandards: He [[spoiler:fires Teddy]] when he learns that [[spoiler:he had been sexually harassing Jonah]].
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: He hates Ben Cafferty and openly mocks Selina, but agrees to try and calm down the salmonella hysteria.
* VicePresidentWho: As Vice President, Doyle is ignored and disrespected within the Meyer administration (the same way Selina was treated when she was Vice President). He remarks: "Cycle of abuse continues."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tom James]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/HughLaurie
A charismatic senator who Selina chooses to be her running mate in the presidential election.
----
* TheAce: He's introduced in "Convention" as a shrewd, charismatic political operator who (initially, at least) has the respect of everyone on Selina's team.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Between him and Selina. [[spoiler:They end up having angry sex in "Congressional Ball"]].
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: While he’s more manipulative and cunning than outright evil, he’s still a nasty piece of work. That being said, when Selina recruits him to run with her he’s been out of politics for a few years after voluntarily leaving his senate seat to care for his son who’d been paralyzed in Iraq. He even tells a couple of the guys that he thinks drugs should be legal because of what he saw with his son.
* LaserGuidedKarma: In the GrandFinale, when he comes to gloat to Selina about how if he gets the party nomination, he won't give her a place in his administration this time, Selina [[TheDogBitesBack bites back]] by [[spoiler:telling Michelle that while he was cheating on his pregnant wife with her, he was cheating on Michelle with Selina. This leads to Michelle holding a press conference about Tom James's sexual misconduct, which costs him the nomination.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: His machinations in the 2016 presidential election backfire, resulting in the other party winning through ''[[UnexpectedSuccessor Montez]]''.
* PetTheDog: When everyone else disapproves of Selina refusing to forgive her mother on her deathbed, he tells her it's okay because he hated his father too.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: InUniverse, to Selina after she chooses him as her running mate. At almost every campaign visit Tom receives way more attention, to Selina's chagrin.
* TheStarscream: Becomes this in Season 5, after it becomes clear at the end of Season 4's "Election Night" that the [[spoiler:hung Electoral College]] could lead to him becoming President instead of Selina. In "Congressional Ball", he is shown actively encouraging congressmen not to vote for Selina. [[spoiler:It works, but his later plan to win a vote for Presidency fails when Montez ends up taking it instead.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He claims that he tried to steal the election from Selina to save America from another four years of her Presidency.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Danny Chung]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/RandallPark
The Governor of Minnesota and a decorated veteran of the war in Iraq, something he reminds everyone of in each of his appearances. In season 3 he becomes a candidate for the Presidency.
----
* EvenEvilHasStandards: As much of a JerkAss and SmugSnake he is, even he's put off by how Selina runs her campaign, which is why he declines being her running mate.
* FakeUltimateHero: It's heavily implied that his various glorious military anecdotes didn't actually happen.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Every other time he speaks he's boasting about how great he is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roger Furlong]]
->'''Played By:''' Dan Bakkedahl
A highly irascible Ohio Congressman who ran and lost the election for governor of Ohio. In Season 6, he is the House Minority Leader.
----
* BadBoss: He constantly verbally abuses his poor assistant, Will, usually with homophobic remarks.
-->'''Furlong:''' I'd make more money if I installed will here as a full-time gloryhole greeter at a Georgetown gay bar. Which I'm pretty sure he already does part-time. Right, Will?
-->'''Will:''' Yes, sir.
* DeadpanSnarker: Furlong constantly makes sarcastic remarks (which are usually vicious insults).
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** He's a {{Jerkass}}, but [[MoralityPet that's a secret he keeps from his wife]]. His wife also calls him "dad" (which is what parents tend to call each other), which suggests that he's also a father.
** In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:he takes care of a wheelchair-bound and senile Will. Considering what just happened to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Selina and Gary]] in the same episode, this really says something about Roger's character.]]
* EverybodyHasStandards: When Doyle fires Teddy for [[spoiler:sexually harassing Jonah]], Furlong is disgusted by this revelation (although [[MyGodYouAreSerious he thinks Doyle is making a joke at first]]).
* {{Jerkass}}: He's absolutely horrible to pretty much everyone he meets.
* MoralityPet: He won't cuss or insult anyone or even get upset in the presence of his wife, who won't even tolerate psuedo-cuss words like "crud" from him.
* SirSwearsALot: Almost everyone swears on ''Veep'', but Furlong stands out: he can hardly say a few sentences without obscenity, as shown in "Congressional Ball":
-->'''Selina:''' Roger, you want to walk us through the drill right now? And would you please, please try and keep it clean?
-->'''Furlong:''' Madam President, tomorrow night is the president's annual holiday party for congressional members and their families. Ma'am, you'll need to make the initial approach. Ben will keep the offer straight. Kent will keep a running tally. Tom, you'll be in charge of putting out any fires. And once you're all done with them, I'll move in and squirt a half gallon of ropey jism into their modeled congressional cornholes.
-->'''Selina:''' Oh, you made it so far and then you just...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Will]]
->'''Played By:''' Nelson Franklin

Furlong's Congressional aide.
----
* ExtremeDoormat: He lets [[BadBoss Furlong]] insult him (and his wife) and push him around (and he's said that he actually does enjoy his job). He's also told Furlong that he and his wife have been struggling to have children due to his wife's small uterus, which he unsurprisingly uses as one of his insults. [[spoiler:Taken to its logical extreme in the DistantFinale, where the now-senile Will is carted around on a wheelchair by Furlong to be the butt of his jokes.]]
-->'''Furlong:''' ''[while insulting Jonah]'' But guess what? That's about as likely as Will putting a baby in his wife's polyp-sized uterus!\\
'''Will's wife:''' Why did you tell him?\\
'''Will:''' What? I ''had'' to tell someone.
* HiddenDepths: In a deleted scene for "Kissing Your Sister", he's actually been secretly planning Furlong's death and is trying to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident.
* OneNameOnly: His last name is never given. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Veep/comments/bp50k3/so_this_is_wills_last_name_from_the_veep_prop/ According to the prop auction]], it's [[spoiler:Suckfreely]].
* UnfortunateNames: Invoked. His last name is [[spoiler:Suckfreely]], although whether that's his surname at birth or [[BadBoss Furlong]] made him change it to that is left to the viewer's imagination.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:George Maddox]]
->'''Played By:''' Isaiah Whitlock, Jr.

The Secretary of Defense. In season 3, he unexpectedly resigns from his post and runs for the presidential nomination, only to quit after a poor performance in the primary debate.
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ed Webster]]
->'''Played By:''' Zach Woods

Amy's oft-ignored boyfriend. He runs Selina Meyer's PAC office in Boston, but nobody really remembers who he is.
----
* ButtMonkey: Whenever he appears, not even Amy seems to respect him:
-->'''Ed:''' Everyone here doesn't hate me, right? ''(Silence)''
* CannotTellAJoke
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leon West]]
->'''Played By:''' Brian Huskey

A political journalist for the ''Washington Post'', nicknamed the "Beltway Butcher." He frequently antagonizes Mike and Dan.
----
* ItsPersonal: He becomes obsessed with bringing down Selina after she arranges for Iran to imprison him so she can free him as a publicty stunt.
* KnowWhenToFoldThem: At the end of Season 6, [[spoiler:after being fired from ''The Washington Post'' for his vendetta against Selina hurting the quality of his work, Leon joins Selina's new presidential campaign, replacing Mike.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bill Ericsson]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/DiedrichBader

He is a political campaign manager and possibly the best one.
----
* AdultsAreUseless: He doesn't do anything when Jonah reveals that [[spoiler:he's being sexually harassed by Teddy]] and he just says that it's an "interesting" story but not relevant to the task at hand.
* TheBusCameBack: He got sent to prison at the beginning of Season 5, but came back in "C**tgate" as the campaign manager for Jonah's opponent in the congressional race. He's not happy about Meyer sending him up shit creek without a pardon.
* ContinuitySnarl: At Jonah's congressional speech, he comments that Jonah fighting with the hecklers he hired is "more beautiful than the birth of my child". In the series finale, [[spoiler:Amy states that she and Bill never had any children in the DistantFinale, so either Bill was just saying that as a figure of speech, Amy meant that ''she'' didn't have kids with Bill, or it's this trope]].
* DeadpanSnarker: He snarks so much that people can't tell when he's being sincere.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's incredibly rude to pretty much everyone.
* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler:The distant finale shows that he eventually gets married to Amy.]]
* TheScapegoat: The Meyer administration pins the blame for the anti-Family First lobbying and the chaos at the race symposium on him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Teddy Sykes]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/PattonOswalt

Introduced in season 4, he is VP Doyle's Chief of Staff.
----
* TheBusCameBack: After being fired by Doyle in "Convention", he returns in "Congressional Ball" as one of the campaign managers for Jonah's opponent.
* [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale Abuse is Funny When It's Male On Male]]: Averted. He constantly [[spoiler: fondles Jonah's balls as a power move in the office]] throughout season 4. It's never PlayedForLaughs, and Dan is [[EvenEvilHasStandards genuinely outraged]]. When Doyle finds out, he fires Teddy on the spot.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Teddy may be a convicted sex offender, but he quits Jonah's campaign out of horror when Jonah proposes banning math because algebra was invented by Muslims.
* {{Jerkass}}: Not only a selfish jerk (like most of the characters) but also an unrepentant serial sexual abuser.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: As he is being fired, he claims that everything he did was in aid of his boss, especially the sexual abuse.
* SmugSnake
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Karen Collins]]
->'''Played by:''' Lennon Parham

A former Senior Adviser to Selina and an old friend of hers from her lawyer days.
----
* ChekhovsSkill: Her ability to dance around the subject becomes useful when Selina and co. need to stall the recount.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Everything she says is just some sort of paraphrase of what the person she's trying to appeal to already said.
* EnemyMine: Amy hates her for being an annoying YesMan to Selina, but she gets a hold of her to stall the vote recount.
* YesMan: To [[ItsAllAboutMe Selina]] or whoever she's trying to please at the moment. UpToEleven in that when presented with a choice, she dances around the question since she doesn't know which one will make them happy, causing people to regard her as an idiot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Laura Montez]]
->'''Played By:''' Andrea Savage
Senator O'Brien's running mate. Thanks to a quirk of the electoral system, she becomes the 46th President of the United States.
----
* ChekhovsGunman: Is mentioned early in Season 4, but doesn't play much of a role in the plot until the Senate unexpectedly makes her the next President.
* FakeNationality: She’s caucasian but uses her last name (her husband was actually born in Mexico) and olive complexion to make people assume she’s a white passing Latina.
* FakeUltimateHero: She wins the Nobel Peace Prize for convincing China to free Tibet. In reality, Selina was the one who did this, but Montez stole the credit. [[spoiler:Towards the end of Season 6, this is revealed to the public, which causes Montez's approval rating to plummet.]]
* {{Foil}}: To Selina. Both only became presidents due to quirks in the system and both are reprehensible and manipulative women.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: While Montez stealing credit for Selina's efforts to free Tibet pays off for Montez in the short term, winning the love the American public and even getting the Nobel Peace Prize, in the long term it ultimately tanks her political career. When it gets leaked that Selina was responsible for the negotiations with the Chinese, Montez's approval ratings for the public plummets, and Kemi Talbot ultimately ends up usurping both Montez and Selina in popularity in their legacy..]]
* UnexpectedSuccessor: She was the vice presidential candidate running against a sitting president. However, Tom James's machinations backfiring made her President.
* TokenMinority: Invoked. O'Brien brought her on to his ticket to offset allegations that he is a racist. It should be noted that she’s not actually Hispanic, Mr. Montez is. She plays it up to be seen as the token minority and to get kudos in the majority Hispanic state of New Mexico.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kemi Talbot]]
->'''Played by:''' Toks Olagundoye
A senator running against Selina and Jonah in the 2020 presidential campaign.
----
* HeroAntagonist: She seems to be one of the more altruistic politicians in the show, which makes her an easy enemy of Selina.
* TokenGoodTeammate: From what we see of her, she's one of the only few politicians that genuinely wants to work for the best interest of the American people. [[spoiler:Although she loses the 2020 presidential campaign to Selina, she does win the next two terms after her and is followed up by fellow TokenGoodTeammate Richard.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Minna Häkkinen]]
->'''Played By:''' Sally Phillips
First introduced in Season 2, she subsequently makes appearances once a season. She starts the series as the Prime Minister of Finland. Later on, she moves on to an international career, as the head of the IMF and a high-ranking United Nations Diplomat.
----

* YourCheatingHeart: He cheats ''constantly''. Whether he's with Selina or someone else at the moment, if there's another attractive woman in the room he'll flirt with her while ''all three of them'' are sharing the same conversation, and his current partner never seems to notice. For a standout example, though, he and Selina officially get back together during the time skip between seasons 5 and 6. Then he cheats on her with Selina's portrait artist in Selina's favorite chair.

* YourCheatingHeart: He retains his BelligerentSexualTension with Selena even after he marries another woman. [[spoiler:He's also having an affair with his assistant chief of staff.]]

* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler:She comes out as a lesbian in Season 5, without any previous indication of being attracted to women.]]

* SkilledButNaive: This trope pretty much sums Richard up--he's very smart, as evidenced by the fact that he has ''multiple'' PhD's, but is hopelessly innocent in the world of Washington. [[spoiler:Although by the end of the series, it doesn't appear to have been a huge problem for him, as he gets elected President.]]

* BourgeoisBohemian: In Catherine's defence, she wants to do genuinely good work, in contrast to Selina's self-centredness, but she was born into a family of millionaires and billionaires, before inheriting billions herself, and she has a degree in "interpretative dance" and tries to raise awareness of Native American rights.

* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: She was this, with perhaps providing the ultimate example when she punched a guy in the face who was threatening Selina. [[spoiler:But she ultimately loses this respect and, indeed, any love for her mother at all when she permanently overturns gay marriage just for her political career.]]

* TheEeyore: She can be very gloomy and prone to crying at the drop of a hat. After giving birth to Little Richard in Season 7, she suffers from postpartum depression.

* CasanovaWannabe: Hits on Amy, Sue, and pretty much every attractive girl he comes into contact with. Always rebuffed due to his boorishness and vile personality.

* DrunkOnPower: As Jonah moves up the political ladder, he becomes more and more unhinged.

* CasanovaWannabe: Hits on Amy, Sue, and pretty much every attractive girl he comes into contact with. Always rebuffed.