Republicans lost the "Cheesecake Factory vote" by an overwhelming margin, according to an analysis by RollCall, which calculated how voters in counties with a Cheesecake Factory restaurant cast their ballots.

"In Cheesecake Country, Democrats lead the combined vote (D+28.8) across 141 counties with a Cheesecake Factory," the site's Cheesecake Index said.

Of the 215 Cheesecake Factory locations currently open across 175 congressional districts, Democrats will represent 171 of them — up from 108 districts. The exceptions, where Republicans prevailed, were in Idaho and Utah; Lubbock, Texas; Montgomery County, Texas; Williamson County, Tennessee; Greenville County, South Carolina; parts of Florida; two counties in Ohio; and one in Indiana. Everything else went to Democrats.

That gain of 63 districts is what gives the index its punch beyond the punchline: by overlaying the chain's footprint on county-level results, RollCall effectively put electoral arithmetic behind the joke, and Hartnett's income figures point to why the chain's locations draw attention — they cluster in higher-income districts, a demographic both parties have long courted.

The reference traces to a campaign rally in Michigan, where former President Barack Obama mocked President Donald Trump for spending more time supergluing gold embellishments to the walls of the Oval Office than focusing on issues like affordability. Obama joked that Trump had "made the White House look like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory." The former president observed that the administration coordinated the whole of government to respond to his insults.

The remark drew pushback from the right. "Classic Obama snobbery. Cheesecake Factory is a great option for people who can't afford a private chef at their Martha's Vineyard estate," GOP strategist Matt Whitlock posted on X.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose net worth runs to hundreds of millions of dollars, posed for a photo outside a Cheesecake Factory.

The episode prompted The Bulwark's Brendan Hartnett to joke: "The whole brouhaha felt like a preposterous relic of an earlier political era — one in which Obama's choice of suit or salad greens could tie conservative pundits and pols into knots of rage. And now we have some proof of how manufactured the outrage really was." Hartnett's quip referenced earlier uproars over Obama's tan suit and his arugula remarks.

"House districts with at least one Cheesecake Factory have a median household income of $93,000, while districts bereft of the restaurant have a median household income of $76,000," Hartnett wrote. That $17,000 spread helps explain why the restaurant has become shorthand for the affluent districts at the center of contested election maps — and why a satirical line about interior decorating ended up backed by county-level vote totals.

On Election Night, as President Trump and his advisers watched the returns, they had the Cheesecake Factory cater the event. Much of the food went untouched as the night grew increasingly depressing.

"WH eating good on a big day," Kaelan Dorr, a White House staff member, wrote on X. His post included a photo of a takeout bag from the restaurant. With the index now published, the county-level figures stand as a baseline that future elections can be measured against.