On May 11, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote in favor of Alvaro Bedoya’s nomination to serve on the Federal Trade Commission. This brought Harris to number three on the list of most tiebreaking votes by a vice president in American history. Since then, Harris has cast a six tiebreaking votes and is just five away from tying John C. Calhoun for the record. Yet Harris’s accomplishment also stands out for the fact that she has cast her tiebreaking votes at a faster rate than any of her predecessors.
The magnitude of Harris’s record over less than two years in office is best appreciated when compared to now-President Biden’s zero tiebreaking votes during his eight years as vice president. Biden was the only two-term vice president in American history never to cast a tiebreaking vote.
Harris’s 26 tiebreaking votes thus far are due to particular historical circumstances. The 117th Congress marked just the fourth time in American history that the Senate was split evenly between parties. This certainly created conditions for Harris to exercise her constitutional prerogative as the deciding vote far more frequently than most of her predecessors.
Even Calhoun and John Adams, the only two former vice presidents with more tiebreaking votes than Harris, each served for more than four years and during times when the Senate was not evenly divided. The nearly unprecedented level of political polarization has also helped ensure that Harris would break a significant number of Senate ties since senators are presently loath to cross the partisan divide.
The very position of vice president is bizarre, limited and highly contextual. The Constitution originally provided that the second-highest vote-getter in the presidential election would become vice president. However, the 12th Amendment changed this structure in 1804 to provide for separate contests for president and vice president, with the vice presidential candidate with the highest vote count winning such office.
In practice, the vice president’s role is to help get the president elected, assume the presidency if needed, represent the executive branch in the president’s stead, advise the president, manage a policy portfolio, cast tiebreaking votes, preside over specialized Senate procedures and train to be president.
The vice president’s power emanates from his or her constitutional security, relationship with the president, celebrity, possibility of becoming president and ability to break ties in the Senate. In theory, the latter of these allows the vice president to serve as a kingmaker during Senate ties and impose his or her own priorities as a condition of supporting legislation. But Harris appears to prefer the role of loyal foot soldier to President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) over rocking the boat. This team player approach is a good way to stay in her party leadership’s good graces and position Harris for higher office à la Joe Biden himself.
Harris’s particular circumstances and approach make her one of the most important vice presidents in American history. Dick Cheney no doubt exercised greater influence over the Bush administration’s policy direction. Similarly, Biden helped build relationships, assuage voters and sell positions. Mike Pence made Donald Trump more acceptable to the Republican Party’s base. Harris, for her part, has helped balance Biden in terms of gender, age, race and geography. Harris has also taken on numerous policy priorities and promotes her boss’s agenda in Congress.
Looking to November’s elections, it is too soon to tell which party will control the Senate in the 118th Congress. But if history is any guide, Harris stands a strong chance of casting at least six more tiebreaking votes and setting the record during her current term of office, unless either party gains a substantial lead in the Senate. This would provide Harris with a unique accomplishment, which would not be a bad feather in her cap should she decide to run for higher office in the years ahead.
Harry William Baumgarten served as legislative director and counsel to members of the House of Representatives. He is also a member of the Supreme Court Bar whose writings have been featured in leading domestic and international publications.