Party Control of the White House, Senate and House, 1789–2027

About this chart

Each step is one Congress, from the first in 1789 to the one seated in 2025. The center disc is the President's party, the middle ring the Senate and the outer ring the House. Each ring is split between the two largest parties, one filling clockwise and one counter-clockwise from the top, with other parties, independents and vacant seats at the bottom; whichever party crosses the dotted line at the bottom holds more than half the seats. A ring glows when one party holds more than 60 percent of it. The readout gives the Congress, the President, the seats in each chamber and whether one party holds all three. The animation steps through all 119 Congresses over fifty-six seconds, holds on the last for three seconds, and loops. The scrubber under the chart marks each Congress and pauses on any of them.

Method

Every Congress from the 1st (1789–1791) to the 119th (2025–2027). The seats are the party divisions at the start of each Congress as published by the U.S. Senate Historical Office (“Party Division”) and the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives (“Party Divisions of the House of Representatives”); changes during a Congress — deaths, resignations, special elections and members who switched parties — are not shown. “Others” counts every other party, independents and vacant seats. The center is the President who served the most days of that Congress. George Washington belonged to no party. John Tyler, elected Vice President as a Whig, was expelled by the Whigs in September 1841 and is shown without a party. Andrew Johnson, elected on the National Union ticket in 1864, is shown without a party.

Parties changed their names and alliances, so each side of the ring follows one line of descent, as the House Historian's table pairs them. Filling clockwise from the top: the Anti-Administration members (1789–1795), the Democratic-Republicans (1795–1823), the Jacksonians (1823–1837) and the Democrats (from 1837). Filling counter-clockwise: the Pro-Administration members (1789–1795), the Federalists (1795–1823), the supporters of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay and then the Anti-Jacksonians (1823–1837), the Whigs (1837–1855), the Opposition coalition of 1855 and the Republicans (from 1857). Each line keeps one family of colors through its changes of name. John Quincy Adams, a Democratic-Republican, is shown in the color of his supporters in Congress. The colors are the chart's own: red for Republicans and blue for Democrats has been the television networks' convention only since 2000.

A party with more than half of a chamber's seats holds its majority; the dotted line at the bottom marks half. In an evenly divided Senate the Vice President's vote decides. The Senates of the 47th Congress (1881) and the 107th (2001) are shown as tied, the 107th because control changed hands three times; independents who voted with the Democrats to organize the Senate give the Democrats control in the 110th, 117th and 118th Congresses. “Hold all three” means the President's party had a majority of both chambers at the start of that Congress. A chamber in which no party had more than half is shown as having no majority, as in the House of 1823.

Data sources

• U.S. Senate Historical Office, “Party Division”
• Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, “Party Divisions of the House of Representatives, 1789 to Present”

Updated the 119th Congress (2025–2027)

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