What Do Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and John Calhoun Have in Common?

Kamala Harris already holds several superlatives in the history books as the first Indian-American Black woman to become vice president. But another championship title awaits her, if she defeats her slave-owning, pro-slavery heavyweight predecessor: John Calhoun.

Calhoun, a white Southerner who served as vice president from 1825 to 1832, was the seventh U.S. vice president; Harris is the 49th.

And now history collides, with Harris and Calhoun sharing the record for the most tie-breaking votes cast by a vice president in the Senate: 31 votes.

Harris matched Calhoun's nearly two-century-long unbroken record Wednesday as she voted to advance President Joe Biden's nomination of Kalpana Kotagal to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Now it's up to Harris to cast the ultimate tie-breaking vote to knock Calhoun off the top of the podium.

The current vice president is likely to break the record sometime later this year, given Senate Democrats' slim 51-49 majority, leaving plenty of opportunities for tie votes.

For recent comparison, former Vice President Mike Pence broke 13 ties during his tenure, while Biden was not called upon to cast a single vote in the Senate during his vice presidency, according to a record from the Office of the Secretary of the Senate.

"When it's mattered most, Vice President Harris has provided the decisive vote on some of the most historic bills of modern times, from the American Rescue Plan to the Inflation Reduction Act, to so many federal judges who now preside and provide balance on the federal bench," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech after the EEOC nominee vote.

"She's carried out her duties with supreme excellence," he added. "And today all of us, all of us, thank her for making the work of the Senate possible."