Vice President Mike Pence exercised his constitutional right to cast a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate for the first time on Tuesday, breaking a tie on the confirmation of Betsy DeVos to become secretary of education. Aside from the importance of the confirmation itself, the vote was noteworthy in other ways as well. Here are a few reasons why.
Has a vice president ever broken a tie on a nominee before?
Vice presidents have broken ties on presidential nominees before, but Tuesday was the first time it’s happened for a Cabinet nominee. In 2015, there were reports that Vice President Joe Biden might be called in to break a tie on attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch, but the vote in the Senate ended up being 56-43. Tie votes on nominees in general are rare; before Tuesday, there had been only seven tie-breaking votes cast on confirmations, according to the Senate Historical office. There have also been a handful of vice presidential tie-breakers on non-confirmation votes related to nominees (motions on postponements or motions to proceed, for example).
| DATE | VICE PRESIDENT | NOMINEE | POSITION | CONFIRMATION VOTE? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 1800 | Thomas Jefferson | Joshua Johnson | Superindentent of Stamps | ✓ |
| March 17, 1806 | George Clinton | John Armstrong | Minister to Spain | ✓ |
| Feb. 16, 1826 | John C. Calhoun | Robert Rottengers | Purser of the Navy | ✓ |
| May 18, 1830 | John C. Calhoun | Amos Kendall | Fourth auditor of the Treasury | ✓ |
| May 28, 1830 | John C. Calhoun | M.M. Nash | Surveyor and Inspector Port of NY | |
| May 28, 1830 | John C. Calhoun | M.M. Nash | Surveyor and Inspector Port of NY | ✓ |
| Jan. 13, 1832 | John C. Calhoun | Martin Van Buren | Minister to Great Britain | |
| Jan. 13, 1832 | John C. Calhoun | Martin Van Buren | Minister to Great Britain | ✓ |
| April 15, 1846 | George M. Dallas | Gideon Welles | Chief of the Bureau of Provisions | |
| April 15, 1846 | George M. Dallas | Gideon Welles | Chief of the Bureau of Provisions | ✓ |
| March 17, 1862 | Hannibal Hamlin | Edwin D. Morgan | Major General in Volunteer Force | |
| July 23, 1986 | George H.W. Bush | Daniel Manion | Court of Appeals for Seventh Circuit | |
| Feb. 7, 2017 | Mike Pence | Betsy DeVos | Secretary of Education | ✓ |
How often do vice presidents break Senate ties?
The average vice president has broken about five ties during his time in office; the median vice president has broken three. Twelve vice presidents, including Biden, never broke a tie; Biden was the longest-serving vice president to never do so.
| VICE PRESIDENT | FIRST YEAR OF TERM | TIES BROKEN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Adams | 1789 | 29 | ||
| John C. Calhoun | 1825 | 28 | ||
| George M. Dallas | 1845 | 19 | ||
| Schuyler Colfax | 1869 | 17 | ||
| Richard M. Johnson | 1837 | 14 | ||
| George Clinton | 1805 | 12 | ||
| John C. Breckinridge | 1857 | 9 | ||
| Dick Cheney | 2001 | 8 | ||
| Richard M. Nixon | 1953 | 8 | ||
| Alben W. Barkley | 1949 | 8 | ||
| Thomas R. Marshall | 1913 | 8 | ||
| George H.W. Bush | 1981 | 7 | ||
| Hannibal Hamlin | 1861 | 7 | ||
| William A. Wheeler | 1877 | 6 | ||
| Elbridge Gerry | 1813 | 6 | ||
| Al Gore | 1993 | 4 | ||
| Hubert H. Humphrey | 1965 | 4 | ||
| Henry A. Wallace | 1941 | 4 | ||
| James S. Sherman | 1909 | 4 | ||
| Levi P. Morton | 1889 | 4 | ||
| Martin Van Buren | 1833 | 4 | ||
| John Nance Garner | 1933 | 3 | ||
| Charles Curtis | 1929 | 3 | ||
| Chester A. Arthur | 1881 | 3 | ||
| Millard Fillmore | 1849 | 3 | ||
| Daniel D. Tompkins | 1817 | 3 | ||
| Aaron Burr | 1801 | 3 | ||
| Thomas Jefferson | 1797 | 3 | ||
| Spiro T. Agnew | 1969 | 2 | ||
| Charles G. Dawes | 1925 | 2 | ||
| Adlai E. Stevenson | 1893 | 2 | ||
| Mike Pence | 2017 | 1 | ||
| Walter Mondale | 1977 | 1 | ||
| Harry S. Truman | 1945 | 1 | ||
| Garret A. Hobart | 1897 | 1 | ||
| Henry Wilson | 1873 | 1 | ||
| Joe Biden | 2009 | 0 | ||
| Dan Quayle | 1989 | 0 | ||
| Nelson A. Rockefeller | 1974 | 0 | ||
| Gerald R. Ford | 1973 | 0 | ||
| Lyndon B. Johnson | 1961 | 0 | ||
| Calvin Coolidge | 1921 | 0 | ||
| Charles W. Fairbanks | 1905 | 0 | ||
| Theodore Roosevelt | 1901 | 0 | ||
| Thomas A. Hendricks | 1885 | 0 | ||
| Andrew Johnson | 1865 | 0 | ||
| William Rufus King | 1853 | 0 | ||
| John Tyler | 1841 | 0 | ||
When was the last tie-breaking vote?
Dick Cheney broke a tie on a vote related to a budget plan on March 13, 2008.
| START | END | DAYS BETWEEN |
|---|---|---|
| Feb. 14, 1899 | Feb. 2, 1911 | 4,370 |
| March 24, 1881 | Jan. 14, 1891 | 3,583 |
| Feb. 14, 1919 | May 21, 1928 | 3,384 |
| March 13, 2008 | Feb. 7, 2017 | 3,253 |
| Jan. 14, 1850 | March 15, 1858 | 2,982 |
| April 17, 1934 | Feb. 6, 1940 | 2,121 |
| Sept. 22, 1987 | June 24, 1993 | 2,102 |
| Nov. 4, 1977 | July 13, 1983 | 2,077 |
| May 2, 1960 | Aug. 17, 1965 | 1,933 |
| Feb. 10, 1819 | May 17, 1824 | 1,923 |
Is this the soonest a vice president has broken a tie after being sworn in?
No, but it’s close. Pence has been vice president for 18 days. Chester A. Arthur cast a tie-breaking vote on March 18, 1881, 14 days after becoming vice president.
| VICE PRESIDENT | DAYS TO FIRST TIE-BREAKER |
|---|---|
| Chester A. Arthur | 14 |
| Mike Pence | 18 |
| Dick Cheney | 73 |
| Harry S. Truman | 80 |
| John Adams | 88 |
| John N. Garner | 90 |
| Richard M. Nixon | 149 |
| Elbridge Gerry | 149 |
| Al Gore | 155 |
| Spiro T. Agnew | 198 |
How likely is Pence to cast more tie-breaking votes?
The partisan makeup of the Senate — 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats,1 is closer than any full Senate since the end of the George W. Bush administration. That means that only two Republicans need to vote against a measure for there to be a tie. So while it’s not a sure thing — getting even two senators to vote against their party can be difficult — there’s a good chance that there will be more such votes.