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Main Characters | House of Representatives | The Senate | Other Politicians | Other Characters
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Bill
Bill Ericsson
Portrayed By: Diedrich Bader
A political campaign manager and possibly the best one.
- Adults Are Useless: He doesn't do anything when Jonah reveals that 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.
- The Bus Came Back: 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.
- Continuity Snarl: 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, Amy states that she and Bill never had any children in the Distant Finale, 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.
- Deadpan Snarker: He snarks so much that people can't tell when he's being sincere.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Is noted as the most competent campaign manager by far, and indeed, makes all of Selina's team look like idiots. However, he's usually kept from being competent by the neuroses of whoever he's working for.
- Jerkass: He's incredibly rude to pretty much everyone.
- Pair the Spares: The distant finale shows that he eventually gets married to Amy.
- The Scapegoat: The Meyer administration pins the blame for the anti-Family First lobbying and the chaos at the race symposium on him.
Andrew
Andrew Meyer
Portrayed 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.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between him and Selina. In "Andrew", during a dinner they alternate between flirting and fighting in a matter of minutes.
- Bus Crash: Near the end of Season 7, Selina is told that he was aboard the Labor Day when it sunk. However...
- Con Man: Is essentially this. Notably, he only ever spends time with Selina when he thinks he can exploit her, never giving her a thought otherwise.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: In season 6 he tries to get the Meyer Fund into several million-dollar quid pro quos with shady foreign nationals.
- Disappeared Dad: Selina may be borderline abusive, but at least she tries. Andrew, in contrast, only shows up when he has to, and doesn't seem to communicate with Catherine much otherwise. This of course, lets him leave a good impression and makes Selina look worse by comparison.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Based in appearance and history on Anthony Weiner, with his exposed affairs and the scandal they cause.
- Being the grey-haired and blatantly disloyal husband of a powerful female politician who is now a front-runner for President and can't be bothered to care about his infidelity calls to mind Bill Clinton.
- Extreme Libido: Played for laughs and drama. He hits on anyone, anywhere, and can't seem to stop himself even when it'd be more convenient.
- Faking the Dead: 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.
- Hate Sink: Aside from Jonah, he's the most loathsome person on the show. Flashbacks in season 6 show he was successfully hitting on the midwife who delivered his daughter.
- Kick the Dog: 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.
- The Pornomancer: Is always on the lookout for new conquests, and moreover, is successful.
- Sex with the Ex: Andrew and Selina have casual sex several times in seasons 2 and 3.
Jeff
Jeff Kane
Portrayed By: N/A (Season 3); Peter MacNicol (Seasons 5-7)
Jonah's maternal uncle and a major power player in the New Hampshire political scene.
- Almighty Janitor: Despite not holding any formal elected office (he's an AARP lobbyist), he's somehow become the sole influencer of New Hampshire's senior-citizen vote. While that doesn't sound very important on its own, the high voter turnout of the elderly, the region's polling demographics, and New Hampshire hosting the first presidential primary in the nation all ensure that Kane isn't just crucial in deciding the state's senators and governors, he has a major influence on presidential elections.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's a deeply off-putting, hateful individual, but Jeff still excels at his job (he manages to help get Jonah elected as a representative, and swings him multiple New England delegates at the DNC), and has good instincts for who will and won't succeed. He recognizes, correctly, that Richard has what it takes to be President, though he also thinks he's "10% [too] black" to win a national election."I can elect ANYONE in New Hampshire. I could elect a Muslim AIDS virus."
- Catchphrase: "SHUT THE FFFFUCK UP", yelled at someone (usually Jonah) in the most guttural, vicious way possible.
- Churchgoing Villain: An off-handed remark seems to indicate that he goes to church on Sundays with his sister.
- Dirty Old Man: In season 7, he's seen drunkenly propositioning Amy by handing her his hotel room key and telling her, "If you have a dick, I'll pay you double."
- The Dreaded: He's implied to have successfully intimidated the delegation from Vermont, a state where he has no power, into flipping their delegates for Jonah just by screaming insults into a phone for a few seconds.
- Even Evil Has Standards: When Jonah says he's "eating so much pussy he's shittin' clit" on his phone in front of schoolchildren, Jeff screams at him but notably doesn't use any profanity.Jeff: This is an elementary school! WATCH YOUR SPEWING MOUTH, YOU ANIMAL!
- Evil Uncle: While he does admire his other nephew Ezra as a talented politician, he sees Jonah as nothing more than a seat-filler while Ezra is fighting in Afghanistan, berates him at every possible opportunity, and withdraws his support to back Ezra against Jonah in the 2018 re-election. When he later compliments his nephew on a tight primary race, even Jonah can tell it's insincere.Jeff: Ever since you were little, I've been telling your mom, "someday, that beautiful, brilliant boy of yours is gonna do great things!"
Jonah: ...I thought you told my mom to sell me to a child molester and use the money to get her tubes tied.
Jeff: Eh, we're family. - Flowery Insults: He has an incredible amount of very creative epithets for Jonah, such as being a "sentient enema," a "walking trisomy," and an "epileptic Picasso painting."
- Functional Addict: Stays late at Selina's victory celebration because they've "got some great coke".
- Giggling Villain: Has a very high-pitched, mocking giggle. Even Richard can't help but laugh along with him at Jonah's dad's funeral, calling it infectious.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Can snap from peevish and insulting to snarling and furious in an instant.
- Laughably Evil: Lords over his power and acts so unhinged that he's less a political fixer and more like the Devil himself.
- The Man Behind the Man: His controlling interest in New Hampshire backroom politics makes him a key decision-maker in any state congressional race. Jonah's campaign is just as much to prove to Jeff that he's not an incompetent idiot as it is actually connecting with voters.
- Mocking the Mourner: The only reason he shows up to the funeral of his brother-in-law is so he can mock Jonah for accidentally killing his own father with chicken pox.
- The Napoleon: He's only 5'8" (starkly contrasted with Jonah, whose actor is 6'4") and is incredibly irascible and domineering. Selina even refers to him as the "New Hampshire Napoleon."
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Will make extremely sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Semitic, and generally bigoted statements at the drop of a hat, seemingly just to upset and repulse others.Jeff: Who is this tranny knuckle dragger, someone you hired to make sure you don't get erections?
Jonah: That tranny knuckle dragger is my fiancee, Shawnee Tanz, and you will treat her with respect!
Shawnee: Jonah!
Jeff: "Tanz", as in Sherman Tanz...?
Shawnee: That's right; he's my father.
Jeff: Ohhhh, royalty. Well, I suppose I should say I'm sorry.
Shawnee: Thank you.
Jeff: Sorry you're even related to that human melted candle who puts the "Jew" in "why people hate Jews". [...] Listen up, Miss Tranz: as of today, Jonie here is down three points to that wop wonder DiVincentis. - Trans Chaser: In Season 7, he mistakes Amy for a prostitute and drunkenly invites her to his hotel room, saying, "If you've got a dick, I'll pay double."
Keith
Keith Quinn
Portrayed By: Andy Daly
The official campaign manager of Selina Meyer's 2020 presidential campaign.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's always polite, smiling and cheerful...and a complete psychopath.
- I Have Many Names: Andrew knows him as "Luther".
- Obfuscating Stupidity: At first glance, he appears to be a guileless fool who'll just weigh Seina down. In reality, he's a ruthless spy for the Chinese.
- The Sociopath: He's utterly devoid of morality and happily orders assassinations without hesitation.
Ed
Ed Webster
Portrayed By: Zach Woods
- Butt-Monkey: Whenever he appears, he gains no respect and barely even any acknowledgment. Not even Amy seems to respect him:Ed: Everyone here doesn't hate me, right? [silence]
Leon
Leon West
Portrayed By: Brian Huskey
A political journalist for the Washington Post, nicknamed the "Beltway Butcher." He frequently antagonizes Mike and Dan.
- It's Personal: He becomes obsessed with bringing down Selina after she arranges for Iran to lengthen his imprisonment so she can free him as a publicity stunt. Towards the end of Season 6, he eventually gets fired from the Post for exactly this reason.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Leon is a deeply unpleasant person, but much of the time he's absolutely right about Selina's self-serving, incompetent office.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: At the end of Season 6, 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.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Amy is one for him.
- Stalker with a Crush: Mike says he's one for Amy, saying that she's "everywhere" in his journal. When pressed, he denies it, but that's hardly conclusive.
- What You Are in the Dark: In a last-ditch effort to stop Leon from publishing the damaging contents of Mike's diaries, Selina offers up Amy to him in a private one-on-one conversation. He doesn't take it.
Karen
Karen Collins
Portrayed By: Lennon Parham
A former Senior Adviser to Selina and an old friend of hers from her lawyer days.
- Chekhov's Skill: Her uncanny ability to dance around the subject without actually giving a solid answer actually becomes useful when Selina's team needs her to stall the recount.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Everything she says is just some sort of paraphrase of what the person she's trying to appeal to already said.
- Enemy Mine: Amy hates her for being an annoying Yes-Man to Selina, but she gets a hold of her to stall the vote recount.
- Non-Answer: Her specialty is giving absolutely zero real answers to any question asked of her, only shifting words around and repeating what's been said to her.
- Yes-Man: To Selina or whoever she's trying to please at the moment. 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.
Jaffar
Mohammed bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Jaffar
Portrayed By: Usman Ally
A Qatari diplomat and son of a very wealthy oil family. He becomes a boyfriend for Selina in later seasons, and the two share a similar sense of ruthlessness.- Aristocrats Are Evil: Very wealthy and cultured-seeming, but also hugely amoral and accommadating of evil.
- Arms Dealer: He mentions that his great-grandfather was one.
- The Bad Guy Wins: A prop (the event program of Selina's state funeral) from the series finale identifies him as the Supreme Ruler of Qatar, implying that he took over his country at some point. While we don't know if he's good compared to the alternatives, it doesn't leave you feeling comfortable.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Mentions he has a family member on the no-fly list, and in a major reveal, says he has cousins who don't like America's tall buildings.
- Churchgoing Villain: When he's not kicking the dog, he's usually mentioning the cultural or religious practices of Islam. That Islam forbids murder, pre-marital sex, and tyranny apparently doesn't bother him.
- Evil Brit: His British accent (presumably from a British education) gives him this impression.
- Forbidden Love: Selina breaks up with him once she decides to run for president again, because she knows the American public would never vote for a president with a Muslim boyfriend.
- Friends with Benefits: He and Selina start out as this, it's clear Selina enjoys the wealth and luxury. However they begin to grow closer and develop a genuine connection.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Selina breaks up with him at the end of Season 6, because the optics of dating him are too bad to keep having.
- Noodle Incident: Mentions many, usually as part of some unsavory or evil thing someone he knows has done.
- Obviously Evil: Tall, mustachioed, always impeccably-dressed, and with the svelte British accent and Kubrick Stare of a premier Bond villain. Half of his lines are just him mentioning something terribly wrong someone he's close to has done, and he shows zero moral compunction about any action at any point. While everyone else in Veep is pretty morally grey, he is in another league, and looks it.
- Overly Long Name: His full name is listed as Mohammed bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Jaffar.
- Ripped from the Headlines: He's based off of Emirati ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, whose father was the president of OPEC, and who gained a reputation as being both extremely powerful and very connected to technically illegal dealings.
- Smug Smiler: Always sporting a well-crafted sneer.
- Wicked Cultured: Well-educated, and enjoys fine wine and giving classy gifts. However, he's an awful person.
