Party leaders of the United States Senate

The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as chief spokespersons for their respective political parties, holding the majority and the minority in the chamber. They are each elected to their posts by the senators of their party caucuses: the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Conference.

Party leaders of the U.S. Senate

Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Majority Whip
Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Minority Whip
John Thune (R-SD)

By Senate precedent, the presiding officer gives the majority leader priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor. The majority leader serves as the chief representative of their party in the Senate and is considered the most powerful member of the chamber. They also serve as the chief representative of their party in the entire Congress if the House of Representatives, and thus the office of the speaker of the House, is controlled by the opposition party. The Senate's executive and legislative business is also managed and scheduled by the majority leader.

The assistant majority leader and assistant minority leader of the United States Senate, commonly called whips, are the second-ranking members of each party's leadership. The main function of the majority and minority whips is to gather votes of their respective parties on major issues. As the second-ranking members of Senate leadership, if there is no floor leader present, the whip may become acting floor leader.

Existing floor leaders

The Senate of the 118th Congress is composed in 2024 of 49 Republicans, 47 Democrats, and 4 independents; all the independents caucus with the Democrats.

The leaders are Senators Chuck Schumer (D) of New York and Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky.^[1] The assistant leaders, or whips, are Senators Dick Durbin (D) of Illinois and John Thune (R) of South Dakota.

History

At first a Senate leader was an informal position usually an influential committee chairman, or a person of great eloquence, seniority, or wealth, such as Daniel Webster and Nelson Aldrich. By at least 1850, parties in each chamber of Congress began naming chairs, and while conference and caucus chairs carried very little authority, the Senate party floor leader positions arose from the position of conference chair.^[2]

Senate Democrats began electing their floor leaders in 1920 while they were in the minority. John W. Kern was a Democratic senator from Indiana. While the title was not official, the Senate website identifies Kern as the first Senate party leader, serving in that capacity from 1913 through 1917 (and in turn, the first Senate Democratic leader), while serving concurrently as chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.^[3]

In 1925, the Republicans (who were in the majority at the time) also adopted this language when Charles Curtis became the first (official) majority leader,^[4] although his immediate predecessor Henry Cabot Lodge is considered the first (unofficial) Senate majority leader. However, despite this new, formal leadership structure, the Senate leader initially had virtually no power. Since the Democrats were fatally divided into northern liberal and southern conservative blocs, the Democratic leader had even less power than his title suggested.

Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, the Democratic leader from 1923 to 1937, saw it as his responsibility not to lead the Democrats, but to work the Senate for the president's benefit, no matter who the president was. When Coolidge and Hoover were president, he assisted them in passing Republican legislation. Robinson helped end government operation of Muscle Shoals, helped pass the Hoover Tariff, and stymied a Senate investigation of the Power Trust. Robinson switched his own position on a drought relief program for farmers when Hoover made a proposal for a more modest measure. Alben Barkley called Robinson's cave-in "the most humiliating spectacle that could be brought about in an intelligent legislative body." When Franklin Roosevelt became president, Robinson followed the new president as loyally as he had followed Coolidge and Hoover. Robinson passed bills in the Hundred Days so quickly that Will Rogers joked "Congress doesn't pass legislation any more, they just wave at the bills as they go by.^[5]

In 1937, the rule giving majority leader right of first recognition was created. With the addition of this rule, the Senate majority leader enjoyed far greater control over the agenda of which bills to be considered on the floor.

During Lyndon B. Johnson's tenure as Senate leader, the leader gained new powers over committee assignments.^[6]

Senatorial role of the Vice President

The United States Constitution designates the vice president of the United States as president of the Senate. The Constitution also calls for a president pro tempore, to serve as the presiding officer when the president of the Senate (the vice president) is absent. In practice, neither the vice president nor the president pro tempore—customarily the most senior (longest-serving) senator in the majority party—actually presides over the Senate on a daily basis; that task is given to junior senators of the majority party. Since the vice president may be of a different party from the majority and is not a Senate member subject to discipline, the rules of procedure of the Senate give the vice president no power beyond the presiding role. For these reasons, it is the majority leader who, in practice, manages the Senate. This is in contrast to the House of Representatives, where the elected speaker of the House has a great deal of discretionary power and generally presides over votes on legislative bills.^{[citation needed]}

Powers of the majority leader

Under a long-standing Senate precedent, motions or amendments by the majority leader is granted precedence over other motions by other senators. The majority leader can therefore make at any time a motion to proceed to the consideration of a bill on the Senate Calendar (which contains almost exclusively bills which have been reported by the committee they were assigned to); a motion to proceed may be agreed to either by unanimous consent or through the invocation of cloture. Conventionally, no senator other than the majority leader introduces motions to proceed, although every senator is theoretically allowed to. In addition, the majority leader can block consideration of amendments through a practice known as "filling the tree", and decides which members will fill each of the committee seats reserved to the majority party; members of committees are therefore often prone to following the instructions of the majority leader, and rarely place bills on the Senate Calendar without the latter's consent.^[7]

List of party leaders

The Democratic Party first selected a leader in 1920. The Republican Party first formally designated a leader in 1925.^[8]

Congress	Dates	Democratic whip	Democratic leader	Majority	Republican leader	Republican whip
63rd	May 28, 1913 – March 4, 1915	J. Hamilton Lewis (Illinois)	None	Democratic ← majority	None	None
64th	March 4, 1915 – December 6, 1915
	December 6, 1915 – December 13, 1915					James Wadsworth (New York)
	December 13, 1915 – March 4, 1917					Charles Curtis (Kansas)
65th	March 4, 1917 – March 4, 1919
66th	March 4, 1919 – April 27, 1920	Peter Gerry (Rhode Island)		Republican majority →	Henry Cabot Lodge (Massachusetts, Unofficial)
	April 27, 1920 – March 4, 1921		Oscar Underwood (Alabama)
67th	March 4, 1921 – March 4, 1923
68th	March 4, 1923 – December 3, 1923
	December 3, 1923 – November 9, 1924		Joseph T. Robinson (Arkansas)
	November 9, 1924 – March 4, 1925				Charles Curtis (Kansas, Acting)	Wesley Jones (Washington, Acting)
69th	March 4, 1925 – March 4, 1927				Charles Curtis (Kansas)	Wesley Jones (Washington)
70th	March 4, 1927 – March 4, 1929
71st	March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1931	Morris Sheppard (Texas)			James E. Watson (Indiana)	Simeon Fess (Ohio)
72nd	March 4, 1931 – March 4, 1933
73rd	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	J. Hamilton Lewis (Illinois)		Democratic ← majority	Charles L. McNary (Oregon)	Felix Hebert (Rhode Island)
74th	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1937					None[a]
75th	January 3, 1937 – July 14, 1937
	July 14, 1937 – January 3, 1939		Alben W. Barkley (Kentucky)
76th	January 3, 1939 – April 9, 1939
	April 9, 1939 – January 3, 1940	Sherman Minton (Indiana)
	January 3, 1940 – January 3, 1941				Warren Austin (Vermont, Acting)
77th	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	J. Lister Hill (Alabama)			Charles L. McNary (Oregon)
78th	January 3, 1943 – February 25, 1944					Kenneth Wherry (Nebraska)
	February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945				Wallace H. White (Maine, Acting)
79th	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947				Wallace H. White (Maine)
80th	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	Scott W. Lucas (Illinois)		Republican majority →
81st	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951	Francis Myers (Pennsylvania)	Scott W. Lucas (Illinois)	Democratic ← majority	Kenneth S. Wherry (Nebraska)	Leverett Saltonstall (Massachusetts)
82nd	January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1952	Lyndon B. Johnson (Texas)	Ernest McFarland (Arizona)
	January 3, 1952 – January 3, 1953				Styles Bridges (New Hampshire)
83rd	January 3, 1953 – July 31, 1953	Earle Clements (Kentucky)	Lyndon B. Johnson (Texas)	Republican majority →	Robert A. Taft (Ohio)
	August 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955				William Knowland (California)
84th	January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1957			Democratic ← majority
85th	January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1959	Mike Mansfield (Montana)				Everett Dirksen (Illinois)
86th	January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1961				Everett Dirksen (Illinois)	Thomas Kuchel (California)
87th	January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963	Hubert Humphrey (Minnesota)	Mike Mansfield (Montana)
88th	January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965
89th	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1967	Russell Long (Louisiana)
90th	January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969
91st	January 3, 1969 – September 7, 1969	Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts)				Hugh Scott (Pennsylvania)
	September 24, 1969 – January 3, 1971				Hugh Scott (Pennsylvania)	Robert Griffin (Michigan)
92nd	January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973	Robert Byrd (West Virginia)
93rd	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975
94th	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1977
95th	January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1979	Alan Cranston (California)	Robert Byrd (West Virginia)		Howard Baker (Tennessee)	Ted Stevens (Alaska)
96th	January 3, 1979 – November 1, 1979
	November 1, 1979 – March 5, 1980				Ted Stevens (Alaska, Acting)
	March 5, 1980 – January 3, 1981				Howard Baker (Tennessee)
97th	January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1983			Republican majority →
98th	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1985
99th	January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1987				Bob Dole (Kansas)	Alan Simpson (Wyoming)
100th	January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989			Democratic ← majority
101st	January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1991		George Mitchell (Maine)
102nd	January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1993	Wendell Ford (Kentucky)
103rd	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
104th	January 3, 1995 – June 12, 1996		Tom Daschle (South Dakota)	Republican majority →		Trent Lott (Mississippi)
	June 12, 1996 – January 3, 1997				Trent Lott (Mississippi)	Don Nickles (Oklahoma)
105th	January 3, 1997 – January 3, 1999
106th	January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2001	Harry Reid (Nevada)
107th	January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001			Democratic ← majority
	January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001			Republican majority →
	June 6, 2001 – November 23, 2002			Democratic ← majority
	November 23, 2002 – January 3, 2003			[b] Republican majority →
108th	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005				Bill Frist (Tennessee)	Mitch McConnell (Kentucky)
109th	January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007	Dick Durbin (Illinois)	Harry Reid (Nevada)
110th	January 3, 2007 – December 18, 2007			Democratic ← majority	Mitch McConnell (Kentucky)	Trent Lott (Mississippi)
	December 19, 2007 – January 3, 2009					Jon Kyl (Arizona)
111th	January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011
112th	January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013
113th	January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2015					John Cornyn (Texas)
114th	January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017			Republican majority →
115th	January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2019		Chuck Schumer (New York)
116th	January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2021					John Thune (South Dakota)
117th	January 3, 2021 – January 20, 2021
	January 20, 2021 – January 3, 2023			Democratic ← majority
118th	January 3, 2023 – January 3, 2025
Congress	Dates	Democratic whip	Democratic leader	Majority	Republican leader	Republican whip

See also

• Politics portal
• United States portal

• Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives
• President pro tempore of the United States Senate
• Vice President of the United States (President of the United States Senate)
• Party divisions of United States Congresses
• List of political parties in the United States

Notes

1. No Republican whips were appointed from 1935 to 1944 since the Senate had only 17 Republicans following the landslide reelection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. Accordingly, the minutes of the Republican Conference for the period state: "On motion of Senator Hastings, duly seconded and carried, it was agreed that no Assistant Leader or Whip be elected but that the chairman be authorized to appoint Senators from time to time to assist him in taking charge of the interests of the minority." A note attached to the conference minutes added: "The chairman of the conference, Senator McNary, apparently appointed Senator Austin of Vermont as assistant leader in 1943 and 1944, until the conference adopted Rules of Organization."^[9]
2. Between November 23, 2002, and January 3, 2003, during the 107th Congress, Democrats remained in control, despite a Republican majority resulting from Jim Talent's special election victory in Missouri. There was no reorganization as the Senate was not in session.^[10]

References

1. "Democrats Take Narrow Control of US Senate as Three New Members Sworn In". VOA. Reuters. January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
2. Heitshusen, Valerie (September 4, 2019). Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2019 (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. i. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
3. "Majority and Minority Leaders". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
4. "Senate Leader". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
5. Caro 2002, pp. 354–355.
6. Caro, Robert (2002). "22. The Whole Stack". Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-52836-0.
7. "What makes Senate leaders so powerful?".
8. "Majority and Minority Leaders". United States Senate. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
9. Party Whips Archived March 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, via Senate.gov
10. Party Division in the Senate, 1789–present, via Senate.gov

External links

• Majority and Minority Leaders and Party Whips, via Senate.gov
• Senate Republicans
• Senate Democrats