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.

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 119th Congress is composed in 2025 of 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and 2 independents; both the independents caucus with the Democrats.

The current Majority Leader is Senator John Thune (Republican) of South Dakota, and the current Minority Leader is Senator Chuck Schumer (Democrat) of New York. The assistant leaders, or whips, are Senators John Barrasso (Republican) of Wyoming and Dick Durbin (Democrat) of Illinois.

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.

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.

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, 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. Robinson, who had spent long hours studying Senate procedures and legislative issues, would in fact yield more influence than any of his party leader predecessors would, and would even expand and better define the power of a party leader's Senate Majority Leader post.

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.

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.

Powers of the majority leader

Under a long-standing Senate precedent, motions or amendments by the majority leader are 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.

List of party leaders

The Democratic Party first selected a leader in 1920. The Republican Party first formally designated a leader in 1925.

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

!scope="col" |Congress

!scope="col" |Dates

!scope="col" |Democratic whip

!scope="col" |Democratic leader

!scope="col" |Majority

!scope="col" |Republican leader

!scope="col" |Republican whip

!scope="row" |

| – March 4, 1915

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="Lewis J. Hamilton" |J. Hamilton Lewis

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="" |None

|rowspan=5 |Democratic ← majority

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="" |None

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="" |None

!scope="row" rowspan=3|

| – December 6, 1915

| – December 13, 1915

| data-sort-value="Wadsworth James Wolcott Jr" |James Wadsworth

| – March 4, 1917

|rowspan=7 data-sort-value="Curtis Charles" |Charles Curtis

!scope="row" |

| – March 4, 1919

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – April 27, 1920

|rowspan=8 data-sort-value="Gerry Peter G." |Peter Gerry

|rowspan=10 |Republican majority →

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="Lodge Henry Cabot" |Henry Cabot Lodge

| – March 4, 1921

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Underwood Oscar" |Oscar Underwood

!scope="row" |

| – March 4, 1923

!scope="row" rowspan=3|

| – December 3, 1923

| – November 9, 1924

|rowspan=9 data-sort-value="Robinson Joseph Taylor" |Joseph T. Robinson

|November 9, 1924 – March 4, 1925

| data-sort-value="Curtis Charles" |Charles Curtis

| data-sort-value="Jones Wesley Livsey" |Wesley Jones

!scope="row" |

| – March 4, 1927

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Curtis Charles" |Charles Curtis

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Jones Wesley Livsey Jones" |Wesley Jones

!scope="row" |

| – March 4, 1929

!scope="row" |

| – March 4, 1931

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Sheppard Morris" |Morris Sheppard

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Watson James Eli" |James E. Watson

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Fess Simeon D." |Simeon Fess

!scope="row" |

| – March 4, 1933

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1935

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="Lewis J. Hamilton" |J. Hamilton Lewis

|rowspan=11 |Democratic ← majority

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="McNary Charles L." |Charles L. McNary

| data-sort-value="Hebert Felix" |Felix Hebert

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1937

|rowspan=7 data-sort-value="" |None

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – July 14, 1937

|July 14, 1937 – January 3, 1939

|rowspan=9 data-sort-value="Barkley Alben W." |Alben W. Barkley

!scope="row" rowspan=3|

|January 3, 1939 – April 9, 1939

|April 9, 1939 – January 3, 1940

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Minton Sherman" |Sherman Minton

|January 3, 1940 – January 3, 1941

| data-sort-value="Austin Warren" |Warren Austin

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1943

|rowspan=4 data-sort-value="Hill J. Lister" |J. Lister Hill

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="McNary Charles L." |Charles L. McNary

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – February 25, 1944

|rowspan=4 data-sort-value="Wherry Kenneth" |Kenneth Wherry

|February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945

| data-sort-value="White Wallace H. Jr." |Wallace H. White

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1947

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="White Wallace H. Jr.]]" |Wallace H. White

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1949

| data-sort-value="Lucas Scott W." |Scott W. Lucas

| |Republican majority →

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1951

| data-sort-value="Myers Francis J." |Francis Myers

| data-sort-value="Lucas Scott W." |Scott W. Lucas

|rowspan=3 |Democratic ← majority

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Wherry Kenneth S." |Kenneth S. Wherry

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="Saltonstall Leverett" |Leverett Saltonstall

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – January 3, 1952

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Johnson Lyndon B." |Lyndon B. Johnson

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="McFarland Ernest" |Ernest McFarland

| – January 3, 1953

| data-sort-value="Bridges Styles" |Styles Bridges

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – July 31, 1953

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Clements Earle" |Earle Clements

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="Johnson Lyndon B." |Lyndon B. Johnson

|rowspan=2 |Republican majority →

| data-sort-value="Taft Robert A." |Robert A. Taft

| – January 3, 1955

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Knowland William" |William Knowland

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1957

|rowspan=16 |Democratic ← majority

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1959

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Mansfield Mike" |Mike Mansfield

| data-sort-value="Dirksen Everett" |Everett Dirksen

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1961

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="Dirksen Everett" |Everett Dirksen

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="Kuchel Thomas" |Thomas Kuchel

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1963

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Humphrey Hubert" |Hubert Humphrey

|rowspan=9 data-sort-value="Mansfield Mike" |Mike Mansfield

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1965

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1967

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Long Russell B." |Russell Long

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1969

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – September 7, 1969

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Kennedy Ted" |Ted Kennedy

| data-sort-value="Scott Hugh" |Hugh Scott

| January 3, 1971

|rowspan=4 data-sort-value="Scott Hugh" |Hugh Scott

|rowspan=4 data-sort-value="Griffin Robert P." |Robert Griffin

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1973

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Byrd Robert" |Robert Byrd

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1975

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1977

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1979

|rowspan=9 data-sort-value="Cranston Alan" |Alan Cranston

|rowspan=8 data-sort-value="Byrd Robert" |Robert Byrd

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Baker Howard" |Howard Baker

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="Stevens Ted" |Ted Stevens

!scope="row" rowspan=3|

| – November 1, 1979

| – March 5, 1980

| data-sort-value="Stevens Ted" |Ted Stevens

| – January 3, 1981

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Baker Howard" |Howard Baker

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1983

|rowspan=3 |Republican majority →

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1985

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1987

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="Dole Bob" |Bob Dole

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="Simpson Alan K" |Alan Simpson

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1989

|rowspan=4 |Democratic ← majority

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1991

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Mitchell George J." |George Mitchell

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1993

|rowspan=5 data-sort-value="Ford Wendell H." |Wendell Ford

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1995

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – June 12, 1996

|rowspan=9 data-sort-value="Daschle Tom" |Tom Daschle

|rowspan=4 |Republican majority →

| data-sort-value="Lott Trent" |Trent Lott

| – January 3, 1997

|rowspan=7 data-sort-value="Lott Trent" |Trent Lott

|rowspan=7 data-sort-value="Nickles Don" |Don Nickles

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 1999

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2001

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="Reid Harry" |Harry Reid

!scope="row" rowspan=4|

| – January 20, 2001

| |Democratic ← majority

| – June 6, 2001

| |Republican majority →

| – November 23, 2002

| |Democratic ← majority

| – January 3, 2003

|rowspan=3 | majority →

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2005

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="Frist Bill" |Bill Frist

|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="McConnell Mitch]]" |Mitch McConnell

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2007

|rowspan=13 data-sort-value="Durbin Dick" |Dick Durbin

|rowspan=7 data-sort-value="Reid Harry" |Harry Reid

!scope="row" rowspan=2|

| – December 18, 2007

|rowspan=5 |Democratic ← majority

|rowspan=11 data-sort-value="McConnell Mitch]]" |Mitch McConnell

| data-sort-value="Lott Trent" |Trent Lott

| – January 3, 2009

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Kyl Jon" |Jon Kyl

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2011

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2013

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2015

|rowspan=3 data-sort-value="Cornyn John" |John Cornyn

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2017

|rowspan=4 |Republican majority →

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2019

|rowspan=6 data-sort-value="Schumer Chuck" |Chuck Schumer

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2021

|rowspan=4 data-sort-value="Thune John" |John Thune

!scope="row" rowspan=2 |

| – January 20, 2021

| – January 3, 2023

|rowspan=2 |Democratic ← majority

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2025

!scope="row" |

| – January 3, 2027

|rowspan=1 |Republican majority →

|rowspan=1 data-sort-value="Thune John" |John Thune

|rowspan=1 data-sort-value="Barrasso John" |John Barrasso

|- class="sortbottom"

!scope="col" |Congress

!scope="col" |Dates

!scope="col" |Democratic whip

!scope="col" |Democratic leader

!scope="col" |Majority

!scope="col" |Republican leader

!scope="col" |Republican whip

Chief deputy whips

The chief deputy whip is the assistant to the majority/minority whip and the head of the whip operations team for their party. The current Republican (majority) chief deputy whip is Mike Crapo (Idaho), who has held the role since 2013, and the current Democratic (minority) chief deputy whip is Brian Schatz (Hawaii).

List of Senate Democratic chief deputy whips

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

!Congress

!Officeholder 1

!Term

!Officeholder 2

!Term

!Officeholder 3

!Term

!Party whip

!Majority

| 101st

| rowspan=2 |Alan Dixon

| rowspan=2 |1989–1993

| rowspan=14; colspan=4 |2nd & 3rd positions not established

| Alan Cranston

| rowspan=3 |

| 102nd

| rowspan=4| Wendell Ford

| 103rd

| rowspan=6| John Breaux

| rowspan=6| 1993–2005

| 104th

| rowspan=3 |

| 105th

| 106th

| rowspan=3| Harry Reid

| 107th

| 108th

| rowspan=2 |

| 109th

| rowspan=6| Barbara Boxer

| rowspan=6| 2005–2017

| rowspan=11| Dick Durbin

| 110th

| rowspan=4 |

| 111th

| 112th

|113th

|114th

| rowspan=3 |

|115th

| rowspan=5| Brian Schatz

| rowspan=5| 2017–present

| rowspan=4| Jeff Merkley

| rowspan=4| 2017–2025

| rowspan=2| Cory Booker

| rowspan=2| 2017–2021

| |116th

| 117th

| rowspan=3; colspan=2| Position abolished

| rowspan=2 |

| 118th

|119th

| colspan=2 | Position abolished

| |

List of Senate Republican chief deputy whips

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

!Congress

!Officeholder

!Term

!Party whip

!Majority

| 108th

| rowspan=2| Bob Bennett

| rowspan=2| January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007

| rowspan=2| Mitch McConnell

| rowspan=2 |

| 109th

| 110th

| John Thune

| January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009

| Trent Lott Jon Kyl

| rowspan=4 |

| 111th

| rowspan=2| Richard Burr

| rowspan=2| January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2013

| rowspan=2| Jon Kyl

| 112th

| 113th

| rowspan=7| Mike Crapo

| rowspan=7| January 3, 2013 – present

| rowspan=3| John Cornyn

|114th

| rowspan=3 |

|115th

| |116th

| rowspan=3| John Thune

| 117th

| rowspan=2 |

| 118th

|119th

| John Barrasso

| |

Notes

References

External links

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

Existing floor leaders

History

Senatorial role of the vice president

Powers of the majority leader

List of party leaders

Chief deputy whips

List of Senate Democratic chief deputy whips

List of Senate Republican chief deputy whips

See also

Notes

References

External links