How many times has a Senate vote resulted in a tie?

US Government

Nov 11

Critical Analysis

Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:

John Adams cast the first tie-breaking vote on July 18, 1789. Twelve vice presidents, including Joe Biden and Dan Quayle, never cast a tie-breaking vote during their time in office. According to the visual above, and adding 7 broken ties for Vice-President JD Vance, how many total times has a Senate vote resulted in a tie?
Article I, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution states: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. Who breaks a Senate vote tie?
As such, who is the only person who is a member of two branches of government: executive and legislative?
When he was vice president, Joe Biden never broke a single tie. According to the visual above, what VEEP (vice president) has broken the most Senate ties?
Our previous Vice President, Kamala Harris broke the centuries-old record for the most tiebreaking votes cast by a vice president in the Senate, underscoring Democrats’ tenuous hold on the majority and the deep polarization gripping Congress. It was the latest bit of history to be made by Ms. Harris, a former senator from California and the first woman, African American and Asian American to serve as vice president. She cast her 33rd tiebreaking vote, besting the previous record of 31 set nearly 200 years ago by John C. Calhoun, who was vice president from 1825 to 1832. What does the fact that Harris broke so many ties say about the power of her Democratic party in the Senate during her vice-presidency?
Pick your favorite of the following famous quotes about the weakness of the office of the vice president:
"You're not going to take it, are you?" — Grace Coolidge to her husband, Calvin, after he was nominated for vice president in 1920.
"I suppose I'll have to." — Calvin Coolidge's reply. He became president upon Warren Harding's death in 1923.
"I do not propose to be buried until I am dead." — Daniel Webster, turning down the vice presidency in 1839.
Being vice president is comparable to "a man in a cataleptic fit; he cannot speak; he cannot move; he suffers no pain; he is perfectly conscious of all that goes on, but has no part in it." — Thomas R. Marshall, vice president under Woodrow Wilson.
"I am vice president. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything." — John Adams, elected vice president 1788 and 1792.
"I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than vice president." — Theodore Roosevelt, before becoming William McKinley's vice president and succeeding to the presidency upon McKinley's assassination in 1901.
"The chief embarrassment in discussing the office is that in explaining how little there is to say about it one has evidently said all there is to say." — Woodrow Wilson, when he was a professor.
"I go to funerals. I go to earthquakes." — Nelson Rockefeller, who was frustrated in the vice presidency. He was appointed after Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 and Vice President Gerald R. Ford became president.
The Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to remove the vice president of the United States from office in two separate proceedings. The first one takes place in the House of Representatives, which impeaches the vice president by approving articles of impeachment through a simple majority vote. If a vice-president voted against the will of the president on a tie breaker, could the president fire the vice president?
Although there have been Senate ties throughout American history, the number of tie breakers has increased in the past few decades. Explain the connection between political polarization, divided government, and the number of tie breakers.
If there is a tie in the U.S. House of Representatives the motion fails. Why is a tie in the House unlikely?
With slim margins of control in Congress and a substantial domestic agenda, Mr. Biden relied on Ms. Harris for the decisive votes to advance major legislation including his sweeping pandemic aid plan and his expansive health, climate and tax law, the Inflation Reduction Act. Under the current Trump administration, the party divide in the U.S. Senate is 53 Republican, 47 Democratic (45 Democrats, and 2 Independent senators who caucus with the Democrats). Vice President JD Vance has broken seven ties. Predict how many more ties he will break in the future?

Write and Discuss

Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.

Act on your Learning

Tweet the Veep and let him know what you think about the job he’s doing.

Get Creative

15 of the 49 vice presidents have gone on to become president. Imagine that JD Vance becomes the next president (he’s got about a 1/3 chance). Describe a Vance Presidency.