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The Senate
Senators
Doyle
Andrew Doyle
Portrayed By: Phil Reeves
A highly influential U.S. Senator and the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. In Season 4, he is nominated to serve as Selina's vice president for the remainder of President Hughes' term. He is dropped from the ticket during the 2016 election and replaced by Tom James.
- The Dog Bites Back: He casts the deciding for vote Senator Montez, making her the new president, after Selina lies to him one time too many.
- Everybody Has Standards: He fires Teddy when he learns that he had been sexually harassing Jonah.
- Establishing Character Moment: He's the first male DC politician we spend time with, and establishes the series' trend of portraying them as dickish, sly, and with little care for Selina or her accomplishments.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He hates Ben Cafferty and openly mocks Selina, but agrees to try and calm down the salmonella hysteria for the good of the country.
- Vice President Who?: 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."
Tom
Tom James
Portrayed By: Hugh Laurie
A charismatic former senator who Selina chooses to be her running mate in the presidential election.
- The Ace: He's introduced in "Convention" as a shrewd, charismatic political operator who (initially, at least) has the respect of everyone on Selina's team.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between him and Selina. They end up having angry sex in "Congressional Ball".
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's outwardly charming, smart, and elegant, but repeatedly proves himself to be as cruel and uncaring as many of his peers. Most notably, once he realizes he could become president due to the hung Electoral College he has no problem backstabbing Selina.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: 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 all drugs should be legal because of what he saw with his son.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In the Grand Finale, 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 bites back by 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.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His machinations in the 2016 presidential election backfire, resulting in the other party winning through Montez.
- Pet the Dog: 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.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In-Universe, to Selina after she chooses him as her running mate. At almost every campaign visit Tom receives way more attention, to Selina's chagrin.
- The Starscream: Becomes this in Season 5, after it becomes clear at the end of Season 4's "Election Night" that the hung Electoral College could lead to him becoming President instead of Selina. In "Congressional Ball", he is shown actively encouraging congressmen to have their state delegation abstain from the vote, hanging the congressional vote so that whomever the Senate elects as veep would automatically become president. It works, but his later plan to win a vote in the Senate fails when Montez ends up taking it instead.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims that he tried to steal the election from Selina to save America from another four years of her Presidency.
O'Brien
Bill O'Brien
Portrayed by: Brad Leland
An Arizonan senator from the opposite party. He is initially introduced when Team Veep is courting his support for filibuster reform, and later is his party's candidate against Selina in the presidential election.
- Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit: Albeit minus the white suit. He's an overweight southern man, who is first introduced tucking into a plate of ribs while meeting with Dan and Amy to discuss Selina supporting a border wall with Mexico in exchange for backing filibuster reform.
- Some of My Best Friends Are X: He taps Laura Montez, a senator from New Mexico with a Hispanic name, as his running mate as an attempt to prove he is not racist.
Montez
Laura Montez
Portrayed By: Andrea Savage
A senator from New Mexico who is tapped as O'Brien's running mate. Thanks to a quirk of the electoral system, she becomes the 46th President of the United States.
- Chekhov's Gunman: 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.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: She wins the Nobel Peace Prize after the public credits her for freeing Tibet. In reality, Selina was the one who brokered, but Montez stole the credit. Towards the end of Season 6, this is revealed to the public, which causes Montez's approval rating to plummet.
- Fauxreigner: 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, including frequently using a Spanish accent on her name (pronouncing it "Lao-Rah") and lapsing into Gratuitous Spanish.
- Foil: To Selina. Both only became presidents due to quirks in the system and both are reprehensible and manipulative women.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: 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 rating plummets and the new public support for Selina makes her presidential run possible. Kemi Talbot ultimately ends up usurping both Montez and Selina in popularity in their legacy.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Jonah's stupidity in a meeting is enough to make her drop her one and only F-Bomb.
- Token Minority: 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, her husband is. She plays this up for her own benefit to be seen as the token minority and to get kudos in the majority Hispanic state of New Mexico.
- Unexpected Successor: She was the vice presidential candidate running against a sitting president. However, Tom James's machinations backfiring made her President.
Talbot
Oluwakemi "Kemi" Talbot
Portrayed by: Toks Olagundoye
A senator from New York running against Selina and Jonah for their party's 2020 presidential nomination.
- The Ace: Prior to her presidential run and Senate appointment she already had an accomplished career as a state senator, city councilwoman, U.S. Attorney, and district attorney.She is eventually elected president for two terms and is seen as superior to Selina in pretty much every way.
- Catchphrase: She's very fond of beginning statements with "As a woman and a woman of color..." or including it in speeches.
- Hero Antagonist: She seems to be one of the more altruistic politicians in the show, which makes her an easy enemy of Selina.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her name, appearance and professional background strongly resemble then Senator and future Vice President Kamala Harris.
- Remember the New Guy?: She is not introduced until the final season of the show, but immediately becomes one of Selina's main rival for the nomination.
- Superior Successor: She's seen as one for Selina in the role of president and particularly being a female president, having been vastly superior in every way and easily winning a second term and destined to go down in history as a beloved figure while Selina ends up nothing more than a footnote.
- Token Good Teammate: 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, a fact which Selina is legitimately baffled by. Although she loses the 2020 presidential nomination to Selina, Kemi does win the next two terms after her and is followed up by fellow Token Good Teammate Richard.
- Twofer Token Minority: As well as frequently starting statements with "As a woman of colour..." her multi-racial background (her parents being Norwegian and Nigerian) is frequently brought up by her supporters and opponents.Selina: That tri-racial twat!
Other Senate Staff
Teddy
Teddy Sykes
Portrayed By: Patton Oswalt
Introduced in season 4, he is VP Doyle's Chief of Staff.
- The Bus Came Back: After being fired by Doyle in "Convention", he returns in "Congressional Ball" as one of the campaign managers for Jonah's opponent.
- Abuse is Funny When It's Male On Male: Averted. He constantly fondles Jonah's balls as a power move in the office throughout season 4. It's never Played for Laughs, and Dan is genuinely outraged. When Doyle finds out, he fires Teddy on the spot.
- Even Evil Has Standards: 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.
- I Did What I Had to Do: As he is being fired, he claims that everything he did was in aid of his boss, especially the sexual abuse.
- Saying Too Much: The only reason Jonah allows Teddy to join his Presidential campaign staff is because he says he got chemically castrated. However, later on, he advises Jonah to avoid a sex scandal by claiming to be chemically castrated, because "nobody really checks" whether or not it actually happened. He realizes what he just said and starts to panic, but thankfully for him Jonah never realizes.
- Smug Snake
