WASHINGTON _ Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday cast his first Senate tie-breaking vote and accomplished something no other vice president in history had done _ used his deciding vote as president of the Senate to confirm a Cabinet pick.
While Pence was the first to do so, he wasn't the first to have the opportunity. In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge named Charles Warren as his pick for attorney general. Although the Senate was run by his fellow Republicans, Warren's nomination ran into opposition as senators criticized his connections to lobbyists. Coolidge's vice president, Charles G. Dawes, was on tap to step in to break a tie if the vote got stalled at 40-40, according to the Senate historical database.
When the confirmation vote was abruptly called on March 11, Dawes was nowhere to be found. Assured by leadership earlier that day that there would be no vote, he had retreated the mile and a half up Pennsylvania Avenue to his apartment in the Willard Hotel and was taking a nap as the roll call started.
Though leaders kept the close vote open for him, by the time he was roused and brought back to the Capitol, a once-supportive senator had changed his mind and the nomination was rejected 39-41, per Senate history.
In fact, that event was the last time a Senate controlled by the president's own party rejected a Cabinet nominee.
Vice presidents, however, have had plenty of tie-breaking votes on other matters over the years. The action happened a great deal more at the start of our nation's history. Most recently, Vice President Joe Biden _ a fixture of the Senate after serving in the body for decades _ never had an opportunity to break a tie.
