Answers That Change with Elections: Who Are Your President, Governor, and Representative?

On the civics test, some answers change with elections or appointments, such as the names of the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice, and your state's U.S. senators, U.S. representative, and governor. USCIS requires you to answer with the name of the person serving in that office at the time of your interview, so check the answers at uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates before your interview day.

This article lists those questions by their number on the 2025 civics test, explains why the answers can differ, and shows you how to find the right names for where you live.

Why do some answers change?

According to USCIS, some answers may change because of federal or state elections, certain judicial appointments, or changes in the law. USCIS updates these answers on a rolling basis and posts the new answers on its Check for Test Updates page.

In addition, some questions about “your state” have different answers depending on where you live. Two people tested on the same day in two different states will have different answers to these questions.

Questions with changing answers on the 2025 test

The 2025 civics test applies to people who file Form N-400 on or after October 20, 2025. According to the USCIS list of 128 questions and its updates page, these questions have answers that change with elections, appointments, or where you live:

• Question 23: Who is one of your state's U.S. senators now?
• Question 29: Name your U.S. representative.
• Question 30: What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?
• Question 38: What is the name of the President of the United States now?
• Question 39: What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
• Question 57: Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?
• Question 61: Who is the governor of your state now?

Question 62 (What is the capital of your state?) does not change with elections, but the answer depends on the state where you live, so you also need to learn the correct answer for your state.

Current answers for federal offices

As of October 14, 2026, the USCIS updates page lists these answers:

• President (question 38): Donald J. Trump. USCIS also accepts “Donald Trump” or “Trump.”
• Vice President (question 39): JD Vance. USCIS also accepts “Vance.”
• Speaker of the House (question 30): Mike Johnson. USCIS also accepts “Johnson” or “James Michael Johnson.”
• Chief Justice (question 57): John Roberts. USCIS also accepts “John G. Roberts, Jr.” or “Roberts.”

How to find your senators, representative, and governor

Questions 23, 29, and 61 have different answers for each place. USCIS points you to these sources:

• U.S. senators (question 23): check senate.gov. Each state has two senators, and you only need to name one.
• U.S. representative (question 29): check house.gov. Your representative serves the congressional district where you live, so look it up by your home address.
• Governor (question 61): check usa.gov/states-and-territories.

The “My State” page on CongDan.us lets you see the questions related to your state in one place. Even so, compare them with the government sites above before your interview.

If you live in D.C. or a U.S. territory

The USCIS list of 128 questions has special notes for these cases:

• Question 23: Residents of D.C. and U.S. territories answer that D.C. (or the territory where they live) has no U.S. senators.
• Question 29: Residents of territories with nonvoting Delegates or Resident Commissioners may give that person's name, or say that the territory has no voting representatives in Congress.
• Question 61: D.C. residents answer that D.C. does not have a governor.
• Question 62: D.C. residents answer that D.C. is not a state and does not have a capital. Residents of U.S. territories name the capital of the territory.

If you are taking the 2008 test

If you filed your N-400 before October 20, 2025, you take the 2008 civics test with its list of 100 questions. That test also has questions about the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice, your senators, your representative, and your governor, but the question numbers are different from the 2025 test. The USCIS updates page has a separate list for the 2008 test, and you should study from that list.

What should 65/20 applicants know?

If, when you filed, you were 65 or older and had been a permanent resident for 20 or more years, you only need to study the 20 questions marked with an asterisk. Some questions with changing answers are among those 20, for example question 38 about the President's name. So 65/20 applicants also need to check the updates page before their interview.

These questions are not hard if you prepare correctly. Just check the answers close to your interview date and learn the right names for where you live, and you will feel more at ease answering them.