It was the first season with David Mandel as the showrunner and centers the lead-up to the resolution of the tied presidential election between President Selina Meyer and Senator Bill O'Brien.

Selina hires a seasoned political advisor, Bob Bradley, to help her campaign contest the vote tally in Nevada.

While Jonah runs a congressional campaign for an open New Hampshire seat, Mike and his wife prepare to adopt a Chinese baby, Selina begins dating a high-profile banker and Catherine reveals a new romantic partner.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth consecutive Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

The stock market crashes after the Election Day tie, so Selina puts Tom James in the unsavory role of economy czar.

Missing ballots are recovered from Washoe County and Selina brings in her friend Karen Collins to delay the state's certification deadline.

Selina takes her off life support and, though she has largely negative feelings towards her mother, receives a significant bump in favorability polls due to the perception that she is grieving.

The relationship developed while Catherine filmed Selina in the White House for her thesis documentary project (shown in "Kissing Your Sister").

Tom James is caught attempting to convince congresspeople to abstain from the upcoming election vote in a maneuver to secure his presidency.

"[13] Allison Herman, top critic for The Ringer, noted that amid the change over to Mandel, "Veep’s edge has stayed razor-sharp...To borrow a stale political term, the show has doubled down on its strengths: Louis-Dreyfus's slowly crumbling rictus and the methodical puncturing of the illusion that 'government' and 'authority' are in any way related.

"[18] Caroline Framke of Vox praised Julia Louis-Dreyfus's performance in season five as "a terrifying, disgusting, completely beautiful thing to behold.

"[11] Sarah Marshall of The Week wrote that the season effectively depicts the personalities drawn to politic: "Veep is a show about the pursuit of power, but it's also about the broken people who pursue it.