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.
Chester Trent Lott Sr. is an American lobbyist, lawyer, author, and politician who represented Mississippi in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1989 and in the United States Senate from 1989 to 2007. Lott served in numerous leadership positions in both chambers of Congress as one of the first of a wave of Republicans winning seats in Southern states that had been solidly Democratic. Later in his career, he served twice as Senate Majority Leader, and also, alternately, Senate Minority Leader. In 2003, he stepped down from the position after controversy due to his praising of Senator Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist Dixiecrat presidential bid.
Warren Robinson Austin was an American politician and diplomat who served as United States Senator from Vermont and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Howard Henry Baker Jr. was an American politician, diplomat and photographer who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1967 to 1985. During his tenure, he rose to the rank of Senate Minority Leader and then Senate Majority Leader. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was the first Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senate in Tennessee since the Reconstruction era.
The 107th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2001, to January 3, 2003, during the final weeks of the Clinton presidency and the first two years of the George W. Bush presidency. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1990 United States census.
The Senate Republican Conference is the formal organization of the Republican senators in the United States Senate. Over the last century, the mission of the conference has expanded and been shaped as a means of informing the media of the opinions and activities of Senate Republicans. The Senate Republican Conference assists Republican senators by providing a full range of communications services including graphics, radio, television, and the Internet. Its chairman is Senator John Barrasso, and its vice chairwoman is Senator Shelley Moore Capito.
The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the Illinois Constitution of 1970, the Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from individual legislative districts determined by population and redistricted every 10 years; based on the 2020 U.S. census each senator represents approximately 213,347 people. Senators are divided into three groups, each group having a two-year term at a different part of the decade between censuses, with the rest of the decade being taken up by two four-year terms. For example, group one elects senators for terms of four years, four years and two years, group two elects senators for terms of four years, two years and four years, and group three elects senators for terms of two years, four years and four years. This ensures that the Senate reflects changes made when the General Assembly redistricts itself after each census.
Wallace Humphrey White Jr. was an American politician and Republican leader in the United States Congress from 1917 until 1949. White was from the U.S. state of Maine and served in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he was Senate Minority Leader and later Majority Leader before his retirement.
Thomas Howard Kean Jr. is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 7th congressional district since 2023. He represented New Jersey's 21st legislative district in the New Jersey Senate from 2003 to 2022, serving as minority leader from 2008 to 2022.
The 74th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1937, during the third and fourth years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1930 United States census.
The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2011, and ended on January 3, 2013, 17 days before the end of the presidential term to which Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Senators elected to regular terms in 2006 completed those terms in this Congress. This Congress included the last House of Representatives elected from congressional districts that were apportioned based on the 2000 census.
Daniel Oren Hastings was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party who served two terms as a U.S. Senator from Delaware.
William Temple was an American merchant and politician from Smyrna, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Whig Party, and later the Democratic Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly, as Governor of Delaware, and as U.S. Representative from Delaware. He is the youngest governor to serve in Delaware in all of its history.
Martin P. Paone is a former Secretary for the Majority of the United States Senate and, for the last two years of the Obama administration, was Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs at the White House. He is currently Senior Advisor at the bipartisan lobbying firm the Prime Policy Group.
Lula Johnson Davis was Secretary for the Majority of the United States Senate from 2008 to 2011. Davis was born in Louisiana. She received a B.S. in office administration and an M.Ed., in guidance counseling from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She began her career with the Senate as a legislative correspondent for Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana. After Senator Long retired from the Senate in January 1987, Davis worked as an office assistant for the Democratic Policy Committee's Senate floor staff office. In 1993, she became a member of the Democratic floor staff. In 1995, she was promoted to chief floor assistant. In 1997, she assumed the position of assistant secretary. After the retirement of Martin P. Paone, in January 2008, the Senate elected Davis Secretary for the Majority. As Secretary for the Majority, she was a senior procedural advisor to the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, and supervised the day-to-day Senate schedule. In so doing, she often worked with Secretary for the Minority David J. Schiappa. Davis told Senators what they could and could not do when it came to rules and procedure. Consequently, Davis was called “one of the most powerful unelected people in the U.S. Senate.” Davis retired at the end of the 111th Congress.
Elizabeth Baldwin Chryst is a small business owner, Republican legislative strategist and consultant and a past elected United States Senate Officer. Chryst is the first woman to have been elected by the United States Senate to serve as the U.S. Senate Secretary for the Majority for the republicans. She was also elected as the United States Senate Secretary for the Minority. Chryst is the founder of GradeGov.com. and provides political information and commentary for several news and current events publications. Chryst is the chairperson of the Habitat for Humanity-Marion County, Florida affiliate. She also hosts a twice weekly radio show entitled Congress College and serves as a principal in the Washington, DC consulting firm of Congressional Global Strategies.
Margaret Mary Heckler was an American politician and diplomat who represented Massachusetts's 10th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1967 until 1983. A member of the Republican Party, she also served as the 15th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1983 to 1985, as well as United States ambassador to Ireland from 1986 to 1989.
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are elected every two years in secret balloting of their party caucuses or conferences: the House Democratic Caucus and the House Republican Conference. Depending on which party is in power, one party leader serves as majority leader and the other as minority leader.
Gary B. Myrick is Secretary for the Majority of the United States Senate.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Maine were held on November 3, 2020, to elect the two U.S. representatives from the state of Maine, one from each of the state's two congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. The election was conducted with ranked choice voting, as per the result of a referendum passed in 2016.
