When Exactly Do Democrats Take Control in Washington?: QuickTake

Democrats have run the U.S. House of Representatives since the beginning of 2019. At noon on Jan. 20, Joe Biden, a Democrat, becomes president. That means that -- once Democrats secure their ever-so-narrow majority in the Senate -- they will control both the executive and legislative branches for the first time since 2011. Exactly when that happens involves multiple moving parts that may influence, among other things, when the House-approved impeachment article against outgoing President Donald Trump is sent to the Senate for a trial.

1. Who controls the Senate now?

Since Jan. 3, when the 117th Congress was ...