Lincoln approved of Andrew Johnson as his vice president for his second term. It was an unusual choice given that Johnson was a Democrat from Tennessee and, therefore, belonged to a different political party from his president. However, Johnson was a so-called “War Democrat” who showed loyalty to the Union. Lincoln and others realized that rather than running with his current vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, who was from Maine, Lincoln would gain more political support by choosing a Southerner like Johnson.