In the United States, a presidential transition is the process during which the president-elect of the United States prepares to take over the administration of the federal government of the United States from the incumbent president. Though planning for transition by a non-incumbent candidate can start at any time before a presidential election and in the days following, the transition formally starts when the General Services Administration (GSA) declares an “apparent winner” of the election, thereby releasing the funds appropriated by Congress for the transition, and continues until inauguration day, when the president-elect takes the oath of office, at which point the powers, immunities, and responsibilities of the presidency are legally transferred to the new president.

The 20th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1933, moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20, thereby also shortening the transition period. After the election, an outgoing president is commonly referred to as a lame-duck president. A transition can also arise intra-term if a president dies, resigns or is removed from office, though the period may be very short.

The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 provides the current mechanisms to facilitate an orderly and peaceful transition of power.MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES} Under existing federal law and custom, the major-party presidential candidates receive classified national security briefings once their nomination is formalized by their party. They are also entitled to presidential transition services and facilities provided by the General Services Administration, including office space, equipment and the payment of certain related expenses. Just after the presidential election, a revised edition of the Plum Book is published, which lists over 9,000 federal civil service leadership and support political appointment positions which an incoming administration needs to review, and fill or confirm. Though the formal transition commences when it is clear that a non-incumbent candidate has won the election, counting of votes continues until all votes are counted, after which officials from each state certify the state's final tally before the presidential electors are formally appointed and the Electoral College meets in mid-December to cast their votes for the president and vice president.

Transition normally involves a transition team to carry out some pre-election planning by the non-incumbent candidates, and involves consideration of key personnel from the outgoing and incoming presidents' staffs, requires resources, and includes a host of activities, such as vetting candidates for positions in the new administration, helping to familiarize the incoming administration with the operations of the executive branch, and developing a comprehensive policy platform.

Background The use of the term "presidential transition" to describe the period between a president's election and assumption of office does not appear to have come to general usage until as late as 1948. The term "interregnum" has also been applied to this period of time. For much of U.S. history, they were far less elaborate operations and were carried out without very much advance planning or even cooperation from the outgoing president. Legally, a president-elect is not required to come to the capital until the inauguration and need not have substantial policy or procedural discussions with the outgoing administration.

It was not until the 1950s that much public attention was brought to the idea of presidential transitions. President Harry S. Truman set the stage for modern presidential transitions by offering to provide intelligence briefings to Republican Party candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower and then by inviting President-elect Eisenhower to the White House after his victory in the 1952 election. Eisenhower, smarting from an insult aimed at him by Truman during the campaign ("The general doesn't know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday."), declined to receive a direct briefing from Truman before the election. Truman also ordered federal agencies to assist with the transition. Eight years later, John F. Kennedy engaged in extensive transition planning on domestic and foreign policy issues, but did not meet with Eisenhower until December 6, 1960, four weeks after the election.

Presidential transition acts The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 () established the mechanisms to facilitate an orderly and peaceful transition of power, and has been amended numerous times: by the Presidential Transitions Effectiveness Act of 1998 (), the Presidential Transition Act of 2000 (), the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010 (), the Presidential Transitions Improvements Act of 2015 (), the Presidential Transition Act of 2019, and the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.

The Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010 requires the General Services Administration to provide potential presidential transition teams with office space, facilities, funding for transition staff, and access to government services. For example, spending on Mitt Romney's transition team in 2012 was going to be $8.9 million, all funds appropriated by the federal government. It requires the GSA to inform major-party presidential candidates along with what the GSA might consider third-party “principal contenders” in a presidential general election of their right to receive certain services, facilities, and supplies within three business days of nomination by their party. It was passed in part due to national security concerns following the 9/11 attacks.

The Presidential Transition Act of 2019 requires the incumbent president to establish "transition councils" by June of an election year to facilitate a possible handover of power.www.whitehouse.gov

Process

The transition process begins as leading presidential contenders forming a transition team to start making preliminary plans for building an administration and assuming the presidency should they be elected. This can take place at any time of the candidate's choosing. In 2008, the presidential campaign of Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama began informally planning for a possible presidential transition several months before Election Day. Obama's transition team, called the "Obama-Biden Transition Project", analysed prior transition efforts, the workings of federal government agencies, and what priority positions needed to be filled by the incoming administration first. In April 2012, before Mitt Romney became the Republican Party nominee, the Romney presidential campaign began planning for a potential transition. Romney's transition team made extensive plans for the transfer of power, called the "Romney Readiness Project", which also included a legislative agenda for the first 200 days of a Romney administration.

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Donald Trump began assembling his transition team in May, after he became the presumptive Republican nominee. His fall campaign opponent, Hillary Clinton, lagged behind in this regard, not forming a team until August, which was after she became the Democratic nominee. Key activities in this pre-election phase include: setting goals for the transition; assembling and organizing the key transition team staff; allocating responsibilities among the team and allocating resources and personnel for each core work stream; developing an overall management work plan to guide the team through the entire transition process; and establishing relationships with Congress, the outgoing administration, General Services Administration, the Office of Government Ethics, the FBI and the Office of Personnel Management to encourage information sharing and to begin the security clearance process for select personnel.

The GSA administrator officially determines the "apparent winner" of a presidential election. If it is not the incumbent president, the winner can access federal agencies and transition funds. To free government funds, the GSA Administrator is required to issue an "ascertainment" letter declaring a non-incumbent candidate the "apparent winner" of an election. The declaration marks the official start of the transition, without which the winning candidate's transition team is not entitled to government funding, secure office space, equipment and access to agencies.Biden camp calls for GSA to recognize election victory to begin transition The right to the ownership and confidentiality of emails and phone records produced by the transition team is, however, not secure as against the GSA and the government.

There are no firm rules on how the GSA determines the president-elect. Typically, the GSA chief might make the decision after reliable news organizations have declared the winner or following a concession by the loser. The GSA administrator's declaration releases about $9.9 million in transition funds for salary, support, and computer systems; allows transition officials to establish government email addresses and receive federal office space; and allows the transition team to start work with the Office of Government Ethics on required financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest forms for incoming nominees.Lisa Rein, Jonathan O'Connell & Josh Dawsey, A little-known Trump appointee is in charge of handing transition resources to Biden — and she isn't budging , Washington Post (November 8, 2020).

The actual transition phase begins immediately following the presidential election (barring any electoral disputes) when a sitting president is not re-elected or is concluding a second term. In the case of the Obama-Trump transition, on the day after the election, November 9, 2016, outgoing president Barack Obama made a statement from the Rose Garden of the White House in which he announced that he had spoken the previous evening with (apparent election winner) Donald Trump and formally invited him to the White House for discussions to ensure "that there is a successful transition between our presidencies". Obama said he had instructed his staff to "follow the example" of the administration of George W. Bush in 2008, who he said could "not have been more professional or more gracious in making sure we had a smooth transition". This phase of the process lasts between 72 and 78 days, ending on the inauguration day. During this time, the transition team must handle the influx of campaign staff and additional personnel into daily operations and prepare to take over the functions of government. Key activities in this phase include staffing the office of the president-elect; deploying agency review teams; building out the president-elect's management and policy agendas and schedule; and identifying the key talent necessary to execute the new president's priorities.

Appointments It is the practice for Cabinet secretaries and high-level political appointees to tender their resignation with effect on the Inauguration Day (January 20) of a new president. The deputy secretaries are also expected to tender their resignation, but are commonly requested to stay on in an acting capacity until the confirmation by the Senate of the new secretary.

Noteworthy transitions

Presidential transitions have existed in one form or another since 1797, when retiring president George Washington passed the presidency to John Adams, winner of the 1796 United States presidential election. Despite most going smoothly, many have been bumpy and a few verged on catastrophic.

Buchanan–Lincoln