List of tie-breaking votes cast by Vice Presidents of the United States

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The Vice President of the United States is the ex-officio President of the United States Senate, as provided in Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the United States Constitution:

“

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

”

The tie-breaking vote (or casting vote) has been made 244 times by 35 different Vice Presidents.

Historical significance

The first President of the Senate, John Adams, cast twenty-nine tie-breaking votes – a record that none of his successors has matched. His votes protected the president's sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, and prevented war with Great Britain. On at least one occasion he persuaded senators to vote against legislation that he opposed, and he frequently lectured the Senate on procedural and policy matters. Adams's political views and his active role in the Senate made him a natural target for critics of the Washington administration. Toward the end of his first term, as a result of a threatened resolution that would have silenced him except for procedural and policy matters, he began to exercise more restraint in the hope of realizing the goal shared by many of his successors: election in his own right as president of the United States.

In 2001, during the 107th Congress, the Senate was divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and thus Dick Cheney's tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority. Interestingly, however, because the 107th Congress was sworn in on January 3, while the president and vice president were not sworn in until the 20th, Democrats technically held a 51-50 majority in the Senate for the 17 days while Al Gore was still Vice President. However, no substantive legislative work was done in this time.

In recent years, with the rise in use of the filibuster in the United States Senate, the Vice President's tie-breaking vote has become less important, because close votes on important issues will, with few exceptions, almost certainly be filibustered, preventing a tied vote from taking place. Three fifths of the votes—far higher than the half from a tie—is needed to end a filibuster.

List of Presidents of the Senate by number of tie-breaking votes

There have been 244 tie-breaking votes cast by 35 Presidents of the Senate while 12 Presidents of the Senate did not cast tie-breaking votes. The median and mean numbers of tie-breaking votes cast per Senate President are 3 and 5.19 respectively.

Rank by # of Tie- breaking votes	# of Tie- breaking votes	President of the Senate	Party	Order in Office	Term of Office	President(s)
1	29	John Adams	Federalist	1	01789-04-21Apr 21, 1789 – 01797-03-04Mar 4, 1797	Washington
2	28	John C. Calhoun	Democratic-Republican	7	01825-03-04Mar 4, 1825 – 01832-12-28Dec 28, 1832	J. Q. Adams / Jackson
3	19	George Dallas	Democratic	11	01845-03-04Mar 4, 1845 – 01849-03-04Mar 4, 1849	Polk
4	17	Richard Johnson	Democratic	9	01837-03-04Mar 4, 1837 – 01841-03-04Mar 4, 1841	Van Buren
4	17	Schuyler Colfax	Republican	17	01869-03-04Mar 4, 1869 – 01873-03-04Mar 4, 1873	Grant
6	12	George Clinton	Democratic-Republican	4	01805-03-04Mar 4, 1805 – 01812-04-20Apr 20, 1812	Jefferson / Madison
7	9	John C. Breckinridge	Democratic	14	01857-03-04Mar 4, 1857 – 01861-03-04Mar 4, 1861	Buchanan
8	8	Thomas Marshall	Democratic	28	01913-03-04Mar 4, 1913 – 01921-03-04Mar 4, 1921	Wilson
8	8	Alben W. Barkley	Democratic	35	01949-01-20Jan 20, 1949 – 01953-01-20Jan 20, 1953	Truman
8	8	Richard Nixon	Republican	36	01953-01-20Jan 20, 1953 – 01961-01-20Jan 20, 1961	Eisenhower
8	8	Dick Cheney	Republican	46	02001-01-20Jan 20, 2001 – 02009-01-20Jan 20, 2009	G. W. Bush
12	7	Hannibal Hamlin	Republican	15	01861-03-04Mar 4, 1861 – 01865-03-04Mar 4, 1865	Lincoln
12	7	George H. W. Bush	Republican	43	01981-01-20Jan 20, 1981 – 01989-01-20Jan 20, 1989	Reagan
14	6	Elbridge Gerry	Democratic-Republican	5	01813-03-04Mar 4, 1813 – 01814-11-23Nov 23, 1814	Madison
14	6	William Wheeler	Republican	19	01877-03-04Mar 4, 1877 – 01881-03-04Mar 4, 1881	Hayes
16	4	Martin Van Buren	Democratic	8	01833-03-04Mar 4, 1833 – 01837-03-04Mar 4, 1837	Jackson
16	4	Levi P. Morton	Republican	22	01889-03-04Mar 4, 1889 – 01893-03-04Mar 4, 1893	B. Harrison
16	4	James Sherman	Republican	27	01909-03-04Mar 4, 1909 – 01912-10-30Oct 30, 1912	Taft
16	4	Henry Wallace	Democratic	33	01941-01-20Jan 20, 1941 – 01945-01-20Jan 20, 1945	F. Roosevelt
16	4	Hubert Humphrey	Democratic	38	01965-01-20Jan 20, 1965 – 01969-01-20Jan 20, 1969	L. B. Johnson
16	4	Al Gore	Democratic	45	01993-01-20Jan 20, 1993 – 02001-01-20Jan 20, 2001	Clinton
22	3	Thomas Jefferson	Democratic-Republican	2	01797-03-04Mar 4, 1797 – 01801-03-04Mar 4, 1801	J. Adams
22	3	Aaron Burr	Democratic-Republican	3	01801-03-04Mar 4, 1801 – 01805-03-04Mar 4, 1805	Jefferson
22	3	Daniel Tompkins	Democratic-Republican	6	01817-03-04Mar 4, 1817 – 01825-03-04Mar 4, 1825	Monroe
22	3	Millard Fillmore	Whig	12	01849-03-04Mar 4, 1849 – 01850-07-09Jul 9, 1850	Taylor
22	3	Chester A. Arthur	Republican	20	01881-03-04Mar 4, 1881 – 01881-09-19Sep 19, 1881	Garfield
22	3	Charles Curtis	Republican	31	01929-03-04Mar 4, 1929 – 01933-03-04Mar 4, 1933	Hoover
22	3	John Nance Garner	Democratic	32	01933-03-04Mar 4, 1933 – 01941-01-20Jan 20, 1941	F. Roosevelt
29	2	Adlai Stevenson	Democratic	23	01893-03-04Mar 4, 1893 – 01897-03-04Mar 4, 1897	Cleveland
29	2	Charles Dawes	Republican	30	01925-03-04Mar 4, 1925 – 01929-03-04Mar 4, 1929	Coolidge
29	2	Spiro Agnew	Republican	39	01969-01-20Jan 20, 1969 – 01973-10-10Oct 10, 1973	Nixon
32	1	Henry Wilson	Republican	18	01873-03-04Mar 4, 1873 – 01875-11-22Nov 22, 1875	Grant
32	1	Garret Hobart	Republican	24	01897-03-04Mar 4, 1897 – 01899-11-21Nov 21, 1899	McKinley
32	1	Harry Truman	Democratic	34	01945-01-20Jan 20, 1945 – 01945-04-12Apr 12, 1945	F. Roosevelt
32	1	Walter Mondale	Democratic	42	01977-01-20Jan 20, 1977 – 01981-01-20Jan 20, 1981	Carter
36	0	John Tyler	Whig	10	01841-03-04Mar 4, 1841 – 01841-04-04Apr 4, 1841	W. H. Harrison
36	0	William King	Democratic	13	01853-03-04Mar 4, 1853 – 01853-04-18Apr 18, 1853	Pierce
36	0	Andrew Johnson	Democratic	16	01865-03-04Mar 4, 1865 – 01865-04-15Apr 15, 1865	Lincoln
36	0	Thomas Hendricks	Democratic	21	01885-03-04Mar 4, 1885 – 01885-11-25Nov 25, 1885	Cleveland
36	0	Theodore Roosevelt	Republican	25	01901-03-04Mar 4, 1901 – 01901-09-14Sep 14, 1901	McKinley
36	0	Charles Fairbanks	Republican	26	01905-03-04Mar 4, 1905 – 01909-03-04Mar 4, 1909	T. Roosevelt
36	0	Calvin Coolidge	Republican	29	01921-03-04Mar 4, 1921 – 01923-08-02Aug 2, 1923	Harding
36	0	Lyndon Johnson	Democratic	37	01961-01-20Jan 20, 1961 – 01963-11-22Nov 22, 1963	Kennedy
36	0	Gerald Ford	Republican	40	01973-12-06Dec 6, 1973 – 01974-08-09Aug 9, 1974	Nixon
36	0	Nelson Rockefeller	Republican	41	01974-12-19Dec 19, 1974 – 01977-01-20Jan 20, 1977	Ford
36	0	Dan Quayle	Republican	44	01989-01-20Jan 20, 1989 – 01993-01-20Jan 20, 1993	G. H. W. Bush
36	0	Joe Biden	Democratic	47	02009-01-20Jan 20, 2009 – present	Obama

External links

• List of Vice Presidential Tie-Breaking Votes, 1789-2003 (U.S. Senate Historical Office)
• Votes by Vice Presidents to Break Tie Votes in the Senate, 1981-2005 (Secretary of the U.S. Senate)