President Donald Trump issues most executive orders in the first 100 days since 1933

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Thursday, March 27, Brew. 

By: Mercedes Yanora

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. President Donald Trump issues most executive orders in the first 100 days since 1933
  2. Democrats maintain control of Pennsylvania House; win state Senate district
  3. This week’s On the Ballot features one last preview of Wisconsin’s state supreme court election

President Donald Trump issues most executive orders in the first 100 days since 1933 

As of March 25, President Donald Trump (R) has issued 103 executive orders in his second presidential term. This is the most executive orders a president has issued during the first 100 days of an administration since at least 1933. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D) issued the second-most during this timeframe, issuing 99 orders during the first 100 days of his first term in 1933. An executive order is a formal command handed down from the head of the executive branch of government to the administrative agencies within the executive branch.

Among all U.S. presidents, Trump has issued the 14th-most executive orders, with 323 orders across his two terms in office. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the most, with 3,721 orders during his 12 years in office. William Henry Harrison (Whig) issued none during his one month in office. Three presidents issued only one executive order each: John Adams (Federalist), James Madison (Democratic-Republican), and James Monroe (Democratic-Republican). 

The topic Trump has issued the most executive orders about is foreign policy at 28 orders, half are related to trade and tariffs. Sixteen orders revoke previous executive orders, and 15 are related to the administrative state.

On March 25, Trump issued an executive order on election policy, which would require all voter registration applicants to provide documentary proof of citizenship and stipulates that election officials must receive an absentee/mail-in ballot by Election Day for the ballot to be counted, among other changes. 

Trump’s other recent orders include:

To read more about executive orders in the second Trump administration, click here.

Democrats maintain control of Pennsylvania House; win state Senate district 

Pennsylvania held special elections for a state House and a state Senate district on March 25. As a result of those races, Democrats maintained control of the state House (same story, different year) and won a state Senate district previously held by a Republican. 

Here’s a look at the election results: 

Goughnour’s win brings Democratic control of the House to what it was before Gergely’s death: 102-101. With the tie broken, House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) can remain in her role.

Senate District 36 has historically elected Republicans. According to The Downballot, “Since taking its present form in Lancaster County 40 years ago, the district has always been held by the GOP, and the county as a whole has gone for a Democrat at the presidential level just once since 1856 (Lyndon Johnson just barely won it in 1964).” Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso wrote of the 36th district: “Malone had not been expected to win the conservative 36th Senate District. The district, which includes small towns, farmland, and burgeoning exurbs, backed President Donald Trump by 15 percentage points in November.”

Republicans maintain control of the Senate (27-23) despite the change in partisan affiliation.

Pennsylvania Senate District 36 is the second state legislative seat to change party control in a special election this year – the first was Iowa’s Senate District 35. Click here to see our coverage of that race. Since 2010, 123 state legislative districts have switched partisan control in special elections. The chart below shows the number of changes by partisan affiliation between 2010 and 2025.

Upcoming special elections 

There is one state legislative special election scheduled on April 15 for Mississippi Senate District 18.  

Click here to learn more about state legislative special elections in 2025. Click here to learn about state legislative special elections in Pennsylvania.  

This week’s On the Ballot features one last preview of Wisconsin’s state supreme court election

In this week’s new episode of On The Ballot, host Geoff Pallay and The Center Square’s executive editor Dan McCaleb discuss Wisconsin’s April 1 state supreme court election. Click here to read about our previous podcast coverage on the topic. 

Pallay and McCaleb discuss the election, including what makes it different from previous elections, the two candidates—Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel—President Trump’s influence over the race, Elon Musk and others’ satellite spending, and hypothetical court rulings.

Wisconsin voters will either maintain the court’s current 4-3 liberal majority or shift it to a conservative 4-3 split depending on who they elect to replace retiring incumbent Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.

President Donald Trump issues most executive orders in the first 100 days since 1933Subscribe to On the Ballot on YouTube or your preferred podcast app, or listen here.