Less than 30 months into her latest political venture and Vice President Kama Harris has already tied the record for the most tie-breaking votes for the Senate by any Vice President.
In her 31st vote, she advanced the nomination for Kalpana Kotagal to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The only other person to hit that figure was John C. Calhoun. He served as vice president to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson from 1825 to 1832.
Joel K. Goldstein, a vice presidential historian isn’t surprised by her achievement so early.
“It really says more about our time, and our political climate, than it does about anything else. Our politics is so polarized that, even on the sort of matters that in the past would have flown through, it takes the vice president to cast a tie-breaking vote.”
Spending only a few minutes in chambers, Harris didn’t reflect long on the moment and didn’t draw it out. While she and others celebrated it for a bit, they chose to simply let the moment pass as just another thing they have done.
Then again, per the Constitution, this combined with presiding over the Senate are some of the only Constitutionally assigned duties of her position.
Many expected that with Democrats expanding their majority from 50 to 51 votes after the midterms her votes would be less regular. Yet with people getting severely sick, she has been called upon more than expected.
The American people as a result have been suffering greatly from her injection of her opinions on controversial and sensitive topics. Her refusal to buck any leftist trends has left many flabbergasted at her actions.
