Kamala Harris says she hopes to avoid tie-breaking votes

WASHINGTON

: One of the few duties of the vice-president spelled out in the constitution is breaking ties in the Senate, but Kamala Harris hopes she doesn’t have to do it much. In an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, the vice president-elect noted that there have been only 268 tie-breaking votes cast by a vice-president in history. “I intend to work tirelessly as your vice

president

, including, if necessary, fulfilling this constitutional duty,” she wrote. “At the same time, it is my hope that rather than come to the point of a tie, the Senate will instead find common ground and do the work of the American people.”


The Senate will be evenly divided, 50-50, between Democrats and Republicans after Georgia’s two new senators are sworn in this week. That means one of Harris’ first duties as veep will be to break the tie to put Democrats in charge of the upper chamber.

Harris officially resigned from the Senate on Monday, and will be replaced by

California

secretary of state Alex Padilla, who will be the state’s first Hispanic senator.

Mike Pence cast 13 tie-breaking votes, but Biden cast no tie-breakers as veep.