Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday reached what she and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) regarded as a major milestone. By voting to confirm Loren Alikhan as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia, Harris cast her 32nd and 33rd tiebreaking votes, breaking John C. Calhoun's record, when he served as vice president from 1825 to 1832.
Schumer, Harris, and the liberal mainstream media could hardly have been more ecstatic. From his official account, Schumer posted and reposted close to 10 times on Tuesday in celebration of the milestone.
A video clip of Schumer holding Harris a golden gavel listed off not only "the good judges and appointees we've had," but also the woefully misnamed Inflation Reduction Act. As we've since seen the administration do, Harris in her remarks focused on discussing how the plan addresses the Biden administration's pet issue of climate change. "I’m honored. I am truly honored. And history, the history we have made, all of us, when I think about the tie-breaker votes," she said, "whether it be the Inflation Reduction Act and what that meant in terms of an historic investment in addressing the climate crisis, and what it has meant in terms of capping insulin at $35 a month."
Schumer and Harris also addressed President Joe Biden's aim to specifically confirm women and minority judges.
Watch the moment I presented a golden gavel to @VP Harris as she made history with the most tie-breaking votes of any Vice President ever! pic.twitter.com/Xxrzzo4Sz9
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 5, 2023
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It's worth noting that these nominees are still confirmed and the bills still pass, regardless of how close the vote is. That Harris has had to break a tie so many times might speak to a few issues, for both parties. The Democratic majority is thin. It actually grew as a result of the 2022 midterm elections, when retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) was replaced by now Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), but even still, the makeup is still 51-49. We live in partisan times, with partisan bills and nominees being offered up.
That Democrats couldn't get enough memebrs to sign onto such bills or supporting nominees without Harris' help could be a foreboding sign, especially since Senate Democrats may no longer be in the majority at the start of a new Congress. As disappointing as November 2022 was, the 2024 Senate map is looking particularly favorable to Republicans, especially in comparison to 2022. This is with regards to the seats that Democrats are defending as well as the ones they are trying to pickup as they look to face uphill battles in Texas and Florida.
As much as Schumer and Harris celebrated the moment, that it's one of the vice president's main accomplishments says something about her portolio as well. Almost from the start of the Biden administration, there's been reports about how unpleasant an environment working for Harris is, with a high turnover rate for staff. Concerns about the particularly unpopular vice president increase with Harris still being on the ticket for 2024. She's also been given a hodgepodge of tasks, with little to nothing good to show for it, especially considering that she was designated as the border czar back in March 2021.
Harris holds the record regardless, but Democrats likely can't depend on her if Republicans take back the majority, and with healthy enough margins. If they fail to do so, we might be seeing even more tiebreaking votes from Harris, that is if Democratic nominees and bills don't already sail through on their own, without a tiebraking vote.
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