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 leaders are Senators John Thune (R) of South Dakota and Chuck Schumer (D) of New York.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The assistant leaders, or whips, are Senators John Barrasso (R) of Wyoming and Dick Durbin (D) 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.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.Template:Sfn

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.<ref name="CaroSenate21">Template:Cite book</ref>

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.Template:Citation needed

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

List of party leaders

The Democratic Party first selected a leader in 1920. The Republican Party first formally designated a leader in 1925.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Congress	Dates	Democratic whip	Democratic leader	Majority	Republican leader	Republican whip
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1915	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Lewis J. Hamilton" |J. Hamilton Lewis Template:Resize	None	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority	None	None
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – December 6, 1915
	Template:Date table sorting – December 13, 1915	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Wadsworth James Wolcott Jr" |James Wadsworth Template:Resize
	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1917	rowspan=7 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Curtis Charles" |Charles Curtis Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1919
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – April 27, 1920	rowspan=8 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Gerry Peter G." |Peter Gerry Template:Resize		rowspan=10 Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Lodge Henry Cabot" |Henry Cabot Lodge Template:Resize
	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1921	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Underwood Oscar" |Oscar Underwood Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1923
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – December 3, 1923
	Template:Date table sorting – November 9, 1924	rowspan=9 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Robinson Joseph Taylor" |Joseph T. Robinson Template:Resize
	November 9, 1924 – March 4, 1925	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Curtis Charles" |Charles Curtis Template:Resize	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Jones Wesley Livsey" |Wesley Jones Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1927	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Curtis Charles" |Charles Curtis Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Jones Wesley Livsey Jones" |Wesley Jones Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1929
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1931	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Sheppard Morris" |Morris Sheppard Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Watson James Eli" |James E. Watson Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Fess Simeon D." |Simeon Fess Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – March 4, 1933
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1935	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Lewis J. Hamilton" |J. Hamilton Lewis Template:Resize	rowspan=11 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority	rowspan=6 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="McNary Charles L." |Charles L. McNary Template:Resize	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Hebert Felix" |Felix Hebert Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1937	NoneTemplate:Efn
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – July 14, 1937
	July 14, 1937 – January 3, 1939		rowspan=9 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Barkley Alben W." |Alben W. Barkley Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	January 3, 1939 – April 9, 1939
	April 9, 1939 – January 3, 1940		rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Minton Sherman" |Sherman Minton Template:Resize
	January 3, 1940 – January 3, 1941		Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Austin Warren" |Warren Austin Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1943		rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Hill J. Lister" |J. Lister Hill Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="McNary Charles L." |Charles L. McNary Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – February 25, 1944	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Wherry Kenneth" |Kenneth Wherry Template:Resize
	February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="White Wallace H. Jr." |Wallace H. White Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1947	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="White Wallace H. Jr.]]" |Wallace H. White Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1949	Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Lucas Scott W." |Scott W. Lucas Template:Resize	Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1951	Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Myers Francis J." |Francis Myers Template:Resize	Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Lucas Scott W." |Scott W. Lucas Template:Resize	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Wherry Kenneth S." |Kenneth S. Wherry Template:Resize	rowspan=6 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Saltonstall Leverett" |Leverett Saltonstall Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1952	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Johnson Lyndon B." |Lyndon B. Johnson Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="McFarland Ernest" |Ernest McFarland Template:Resize
	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1953	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Bridges Styles" |Styles Bridges Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – July 31, 1953	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Clements Earle" |Earle Clements Template:Resize	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Johnson Lyndon B." |Lyndon B. Johnson Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Taft Robert A." |Robert A. Taft Template:Resize
	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1955	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Knowland William" |William Knowland Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1957	rowspan=16 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1959	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Mansfield Mike" |Mike Mansfield Template:Resize	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Dirksen Everett" |Everett Dirksen Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1961	rowspan=6 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Dirksen Everett" |Everett Dirksen Template:Resize	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Kuchel Thomas" |Thomas Kuchel Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1963	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Humphrey Hubert" |Hubert Humphrey Template:Resize	rowspan=9 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Mansfield Mike" |Mike Mansfield Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1965
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1967	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Long Russell B." |Russell Long Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1969
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – September 7, 1969	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Kennedy Ted" |Ted Kennedy Template:Resize	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Scott Hugh" |Hugh Scott Template:Resize
	Template:Nowrap January 3, 1971	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Scott Hugh" |Hugh Scott Template:Resize	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Griffin Robert P." |Robert Griffin Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1973	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Byrd Robert" |Robert Byrd Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1975
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1977
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1979	rowspan=9 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Cranston Alan" |Alan Cranston Template:Resize	rowspan=8 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Byrd Robert" |Robert Byrd Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Baker Howard" |Howard Baker Template:Resize	rowspan=6 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Stevens Ted" |Ted Stevens Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – November 1, 1979
	Template:Date table sorting – March 5, 1980	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Stevens Ted" |Ted Stevens Template:Resize
	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1981	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Baker Howard" |Howard Baker Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1983	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1985
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1987	rowspan=6 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Dole Bob" |Bob Dole Template:Resize	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Simpson Alan K" |Alan Simpson Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1989	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1991	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Mitchell George J." |George Mitchell Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1993	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Ford Wendell H." |Wendell Ford Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1995
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – June 12, 1996	rowspan=9 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Daschle Tom" |Tom Daschle Template:Resize	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Lott Trent" |Trent Lott Template:Resize
	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1997	rowspan=7 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Lott Trent" |Trent Lott Template:Resize	rowspan=7 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Nickles Don" |Don Nickles Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 1999
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2001	rowspan=6 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Reid Harry" |Harry Reid Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 20, 2001	Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority
	Template:Date table sorting – June 6, 2001	Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →
	Template:Date table sorting – November 23, 2002	Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority
	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2003	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Longitem majority →
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2005	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Frist Bill" |Bill Frist Template:Resize	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="McConnell Mitch]]" |Mitch McConnell Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2007	rowspan=13 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Durbin Dick" |Dick Durbin Template:Resize	rowspan=7 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Reid Harry" |Harry Reid Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – December 18, 2007	rowspan=5 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority	rowspan=11 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="McConnell Mitch]]" |Mitch McConnell Template:Resize	Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Lott Trent" |Trent Lott Template:Resize
	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2009	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Kyl Jon" |Jon Kyl Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2011
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2013
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2015	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Cornyn John" |John Cornyn Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2017	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2019	rowspan=6 Template:Party shading/Democratic data-sort-value="Schumer Chuck" |Chuck Schumer Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2021	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Thune John" |John Thune Template:Resize
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 20, 2021
	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2023	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Democratic ← majority
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2025
Template:USCongressOrdinal	Template:Date table sorting – January 3, 2027	rowspan=1 Template:Party shading/Republican |Republican majority →	rowspan=1 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Thune John" |John Thune Template:Resize	rowspan=1 Template:Party shading/Republican data-sort-value="Barrasso John" |John Barrasso Template:Resize
Congress	Dates	Democratic whip	Democratic leader	Majority	Republican leader	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's been holding the office since 2013 and the current Democratic (minority) chief deputy whip is Brian Schatz (Hawaii).

List of Senate Democratic chief deputy whips

Congress	Officeholder 1	Term	Officeholder 2	Term	Officeholder 3	Term	Party whip	Majority
101st	Alan Dixon Template:Small	1989-1993	2nd & 3rd positions not established				Alan Cranston	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Template:Small
102nd			Wendell Ford
103rd	John Breaux Template:Small	1993-2005
104th				rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Small
105th
106th			Harry Reid
107th				Template:Small
108th				rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Small
109th	Barbara Boxer Template:Small	2005-2017	Dick Durbin
110th				rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Template:Small
111th
112th
113th
114th				rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Small
115th	Brian Schatz Template:Small	2017-2023		Jeff Merkley Template:Small	2017-2025	Cory Booker Template:Small	2017-2021
116th
117th						Position abolished		rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Template:Small Template:Efn
118th	Vacant
119th	Brian Schatz Template:Small	2025-present		Position abolished		Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Small

List of Senate Republican chief deputy whips

Congress	Officeholder	Term	Party whip	Majority
108th	Bob Bennett Template:Small	January 3, 2003 - January 3, 2007	Mitch McConnell	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Small
109th
110th	John Thune Template:Small	January 3, 2007 - January 3, 2009	Trent Lott Jon Kyl Template:Efn	rowspan=4 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Template:Small
111th	Richard Burr Template:Small	January 3, 2009 - January 3, 2013	Jon Kyl
112th
113th	Mike Crapo Template:Small	January 3, 2013 - present	John Cornyn
114th				rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Small
115th
116th			John Thune
117th				rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Democratic |Template:SmallTemplate:Efn
118th
119th			John Barrasso	Template:Party shading/Republican |Template:Small

See also

• 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

External links

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