Party leaders of the United States Senate

Last updated April 11, 2024

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)

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 a chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding the majority and the minority in the United States Senate. They are each elected as majority leader and minority leader by the senators of their party caucuses: the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Conference.

By Senate precedent, the presiding officer gives the majority leader priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate. The majority leader serves as the chief representative of their party in the Senate, and is considered the most powerful member of the Senate. 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.

Current floor leaders

The Senate is currently composed of 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 3 independents; all the independents caucus with the Democrats.

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

History

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 the practice of 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.

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 motions by any other senator: 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 senatore 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 committes 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.^[5]

List of party leaders

The Democratic Party first selected a leader in 1920. The Republican Party first formally designated a leader in 1925.^[6]

Congress	Dates	Democratic whip	Democratic leader	Majority	Republican leader	Republican whip
63rd	May 28, 1913 – March 4, 1915	J. Hamilton Lewis	None	Democratic ← majority	None	None
64th	March 4, 1915 – December 6, 1915					None
	December 6, 1915 – December 13, 1915					James Wadsworth
	December 13, 1915 – March 4, 1917					Charles Curtis
65th	March 4, 1917 – March 4, 1919
66th	March 4, 1919 – April 27, 1920	Peter Gerry		Republican majority →	Henry Cabot Lodge Unofficial
66th	April 27, 1920 – March 4, 1921		Oscar Underwood
67th	March 4, 1921 – March 4, 1923
68th	March 4, 1923 – December 3, 1923
	December 3, 1923 – November 9, 1924		Joseph T. Robinson
	November 9, 1924 – March 4, 1925				Charles Curtis Acting	Wesley Jones Acting
69th	March 4, 1925 – March 4, 1927				Charles Curtis	Wesley Jones
70th	March 4, 1927 – March 4, 1929				Charles Curtis	Wesley Jones
71st	March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1931	Morris Sheppard			James E. Watson	Simeon Fess
72nd	March 4, 1931 – March 4, 1933	Morris Sheppard			James E. Watson	Simeon Fess
73rd	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	J. Hamilton Lewis		Democratic ← majority	Charles L. McNary	Felix Hebert
74th	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1937					None^{[lower-alpha 1]}
75th	January 3, 1937 – July 14, 1937
75th	July 14, 1937 – January 3, 1939		Alben W. Barkley
76th	January 3, 1939 – April 9, 1939
	April 9, 1939 – January 3, 1940	Sherman Minton
	January 3, 1940 – January 3, 1941	Sherman Minton			Warren Austin Acting
77th	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	J. Lister Hill			Charles L. McNary
78th	January 3, 1943 – February 25, 1944				Charles L. McNary	Kenneth Wherry
78th	February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945				Wallace H. White Acting
79th	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947				Wallace H. White
80th	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	Scott W. Lucas		Republican majority →	Wallace H. White
81st	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951	Francis Myers	Scott W. Lucas	Democratic ← majority	Kenneth S. Wherry	Leverett Saltonstall
82nd	January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1952	Lyndon B. Johnson	Ernest McFarland		Kenneth S. Wherry
82nd	January 3, 1952 – January 3, 1953	Lyndon B. Johnson	Ernest McFarland		Styles Bridges
83rd	January 3, 1953 – July 31, 1953	Earle Clements	Lyndon B. Johnson	Republican majority →	Robert A. Taft
83rd	August 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955			Republican majority →	William Knowland
84th	January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1957			Democratic ← majority
85th	January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1959	Mike Mansfield				Everett Dirksen
86th	January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1961	Mike Mansfield			Everett Dirksen	Thomas Kuchel
87th	January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963	Hubert Humphrey	Mike Mansfield
88th	January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965	Hubert Humphrey
89th	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1967	Russell B. Long
90th	January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969	Russell B. Long
91st	January 3, 1969 – September 7, 1969	Ted Kennedy				Hugh Scott
91st	September 24, 1969 – January 3, 1971	Ted Kennedy			Hugh Scott	Robert Griffin
92nd	January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973	Robert Byrd
93rd	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975
94th	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1977
95th	January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1979	Alan Cranston	Robert Byrd		Howard Baker	Ted Stevens
96th	January 3, 1979 – November 1, 1979				Howard Baker
	November 1, 1979 – March 5, 1980				Ted Stevens Acting
	March 5, 1980 – January 3, 1981				Howard Baker
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	Alan Simpson
100th	January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989			Democratic ← majority
101st	January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1991		George Mitchell
102nd	January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1993	Wendell Ford
103rd	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
104th	January 3, 1995 – June 12, 1996		Tom Daschle	Republican majority →		Trent Lott
104th	June 12, 1996 – January 3, 1997				Trent Lott	Don Nickles
105th	January 3, 1997 – January 3, 1999
106th	January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2001	Harry Reid
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			^{[lower-alpha 2]} Republican majority →
108th	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005				Bill Frist	Mitch McConnell
109th	January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007	Dick Durbin	Harry Reid		Bill Frist	Mitch McConnell
110th	January 3, 2007 – December 18, 2007			Democratic ← majority	Mitch McConnell	Trent Lott
110th	December 19, 2007 – January 3, 2009					Jon Kyl
111th	January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011
112th	January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013
113th	January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2015					John Cornyn
114th	January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017			Republican majority →
115th	January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2019		Chuck Schumer
116th	January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2021					John Thune
117th	January 3, 2021 – January 20, 2021
117th	January 20, 2021 – January 3, 2023			Democratic ← majority
118th	January 3, 2023 – January 3, 2025			Democratic ← majority
Congress	Dates	Democratic whip	Democratic leader	Majority	Republican leader	Republican whip

Notes

↑ 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."^[7]
↑ 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.^[8]

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References

↑ "Democrats Take Narrow Control of US Senate as Three New Members Sworn In". VOA. Reuters. January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
↑ 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.
↑ "Majority and Minority Leaders". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
↑ "Senate Leader". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
↑ "What makes Senate leaders so powerful?".
↑ "Majority and Minority Leaders". United States Senate. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
↑ Party Whips Archived March 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine , via Senate.gov
↑ 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

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[No_GOP_whip-8] 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."^[7]

[10] 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.^[8]

[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] "What makes Senate leaders so powerful?".

[6] "Majority and Minority Leaders". United States Senate. Retrieved June 27, 2019.

[7] Party Whips Archived March 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine , via Senate.gov

[9] Party Division in the Senate, 1789–present, via Senate.gov

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