‘Since 1912’

Since 1912, every time the presidency of the United States switched to the Democratic Party, that Democratic presidential pickup winner started his presidency with both houses of Congress in the column for the Democratic Party.

The significance of dating back to 1912 is that it was also the decade of the 17th Amendment. This is direct elections of United States senators by the states’s voting citizens.

For the last 100-plus years—Since 1912—every Democratic presidential pickup winner started his presidency with both houses of Congress in the column for the Democrats.

This was applicable to: 1912 Woodrow Wilson; 1932 Franklin Roosevelt; 1960 John Kennedy; 1976 Jimmy Carter; 1992 Bill Clinton; 2008 Barack Obama; and, most recently, 2020 Joe Biden.

Even when Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, as successors following the deaths in office of FDR and JFK, their full-term elections won in 1948 and 1964 were accompanied by same-party majority control of both houses of Congress.

The same cannot be said of the Since 1912 Republicans. 

Since 1912, three Republicans did not experience same-party majority control of both houses of Congress. Richard Nixon, the Republican presidential pickup winner of 1968, had neither house of Congress. In fact, over the last 100-plus years, Nixon was the only president—elected to more than one term—who never had either house of Congress in his party’s column at any point during his presidency. Ronald Reagan, with his 1980 Republican pickup of the presidency, was able to see his party flip the U.S. Senate but, with not enough of a sufficient shift, the U.S. House stayed in the column for the Democrats. And George Bush, winning a Republican hold (and a third consecutive cycle for his party) in 1988, did not have either house of Congress in his party’s column.

So, when observing this, it must be remembered: Since 1912, when the presidency switched party occupancy, more advantages were with the Democrats.

This means the Since 1912 Democrats have no excuses.

This is why, with last week’s decision from the United States Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade, I do not and will not excuse the Democratic Party.

The post-1973 Democrats could have codified Roe v. Wade into law following the 1976 Democratic pickup of the presidency for Jimmy Carter.

This is almost 50 years.

This warrants a conclusion.

With such historical, electoral, and political advantage, the Since 1912 Democrats—via Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Carter, Clinton, and Obama; along with Truman and Johnson; and, of course, with Biden—have done what they intended.

Since 1912, the Democrats delivered—and not delivered—what they intended.

The Since 1912 Democrats, currently under Joe Biden, intentionally delivered the highest court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.