A Trifecta Record Stands

[politicallefty]

President Joe Biden will have what every newly elected Democratic President has had, save one (President Grover Cleveland after 1884). He will have the full trifecta of the Presidency and both Houses of Congress. Grover Cleveland is the only newly elected Democratic President to not have the trifecta, as Republicans held on to the Senate that year. Taken to its logical conclusion, no Democrat has been elected without a Democratic House and only once has the Senate been in opposition to a newly elected Democratic President (and never since the ratification of the 17th Amendment).

I felt that was an interesting historical note. (Even if you separate Grover Cleveland's terms, it makes no difference to the facts.)

[Mr.Phips]

Isn’t it the case that they only newly elected Presidents who were elected without a trifecta were Nixon (1968), Reagan (only had the Senate in 1980), and Bush 41 (1988)?

[GeorgiaModerate]

A related record: Trump is the first President since Hoover to start with a trifecta and lose all three components by the end of his term.

[GP270watch]

A related record: Trump is the first President since Hoover to start with a trifecta and lose all three components by the end of his term.

21st Century Hoover.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

It's funny how three Democrats came pretty close to winning (Gore, Kerry, Hillary), but would've done so without either house of Congress. Granted, Hillary winning probably means a narrow Democratic Senate majority (probably dependent on Kaine being the tiebreaker) but no way of getting around that she would have a Republican House. Kerry definitely wouldn't have had either. Gore winning by Biden or Obama '12's margin probably would've gotten narrow Democratic majorities, but just flipping FL or NH? Nah.

[The Mikado]

It's funny how three Democrats came pretty close to winning (Gore, Kerry, Hillary), but would've done so without either house of Congress. Granted, Hillary winning probably means a narrow Democratic Senate majority (probably dependent on Kaine being the tiebreaker) but no way of getting around that she would have a Republican House. Kerry definitely wouldn't have had either. Gore winning by Biden or Obama '12's margin probably would've gotten narrow Democratic majorities, but just flipping FL or NH? Nah.

Gore would've only not had the Senate because CT's GOP Governor would've replaced Lieberman with an R for 51-49 R Senate. Still possible Jeffords crosses over as he did IRL to make it 50-50 at some point.

[Tokugawa Sexgod Ieyasu]

A related record: Trump is the first President since Hoover to start with a trifecta and lose all three components by the end of his term.

Wait, how is this not true of Dubya, or Obama for that matter? Or did you mean by the end of his first term?

[President Johnson]

It's also interesting how close to 2000 this is in the congress. After the 2000 election, there was also a 50-50 senate and the Republican majority shrunk to 221 seats (actually they lost seats in 1996, 1998 and 2000 consecutively). Just one seat less than the 117th congress.

However, Dubya lost his trifecta later in 2001 when Jim Jeffords of Vermot (Bernie's direct predecessor) left the Republican caucus and became an Independent caucusing with the Democrats. I think this was also the first time (at least since the 19th century) that the president's party controlled the House but not the senate, though the opposite scenario was quite often the case. I remember when I first watched House of Cards and said it was unrealistic the president's party controls the House, but not the senate as it's the case at the beginning. I was proven wrong considering how close we came to this in 2020.

It's also interesting the Democratic senate majority is only based on special elections. If John McCain didn't die and/or Johnny Isakson didn't resign for health reasons, Republicans would still control senate beyond January 20.

[AndyHogan14]

Looking back throughout history, every Democratic president (even if you include the Democratic-Republicans from Jefferson to Quincy Adams), has had a trifecta at least at one point in their term with the exception of Andrew Johnson. So, I guess, you could just say every **elected** Democrat has had a trifecta at one point during their term.

[GeorgiaModerate]

A related record: Trump is the first President since Hoover to start with a trifecta and lose all three components by the end of his term.

Wait, how is this not true of Dubya, or Obama for that matter? Or did you mean by the end of his first term?

Yes, "first" should be in there.

[Bootes Void]

A related record: Trump is the first President since Hoover to start with a trifecta and lose all three components by the end of his term.

Wait, how is this not true of Dubya, or Obama for that matter? Or did you mean by the end of his first term?

End of first term. If we are talking about W he had a GOP congress entering in 2005 but lost it all by 2009

[..]

The fact that Democrats dominated Congress from the 1930's to the 1990's is the main reason why this record has held for so long.

They only were in the minority from 1947 to 1949 (Harry Truman would be the last Democratic president to govern without his party controlling both chambers of Congress for some duration of his tenure until Bill Clinton) and from 1953 to 1955, in addition to being in the Senate (but not House) minority during the first six years of Reagan's presidency.

[หมูเด้ง]

What does it mean and what would it have meant?