Party leaders of the United States Senate

Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate
Incumbent Mitch McConnell (R) since January 3, 2015
Style	Leader
Inaugural holder	Henry Cabot Lodge (R)
Formation	April 27, 1920

Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate
Incumbent Harry Reid (D) since January 3, 2015
Style	Leader
Inaugural holder	Oscar Underwood (D)
Formation	March 4, 1920

Majority Whip of the U.S. Senate
Incumbent John Cornyn (R) since January 3, 2015
Style	Whip
Inaugural holder	J. Hamilton Lewis (D)
Formation	1915

Minority Whip of the U.S. Senate
Incumbent Dick Durbin (D) since January 3, 2015
Style	Whip
Inaugural holder	James Wadsworth, Jr. (R)
Formation	1913

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The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for the political parties respectively holding the majority and the minority in the United States Senate, and manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. They are elected to their positions in the Senate by their respective party caucuses, the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Conference.

By rule, the Presiding Officer gives the Majority Leader priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate. The Majority Leader customarily serves as the chief representative of their party in Senate, and sometimes even in all of Congress if the House of Representatives and thus the office of Speaker of the House is controlled by the opposition party.

The Assistant Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate (commonly called Senate Majority and Minority Whips) are the second-ranking members of each party's leadership. The main function of the Majority and Minority Whips is to gather votes on major issues. Because they are the second ranking member of the Senate, if there is no floor leader present, the whip may become acting floor leader. Before 1969, the official titles were Majority Whip and Minority Whip.

Current floor leaders

The Senate is currently composed of 54 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 2 independents, both of whom caucus with the Democrats.

The current leaders are Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. The current Assistant Majority Leader is Republican John Cornyn of Texas. The current Assistant Minority Leader is Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois.

History

The Democrats began the practice of electing floor leaders in 1920 while they were in the minority. John Worth Kern (December 20, 1849 – August 17, 1917) was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana. While the title was not official, he is considered to be the first Senate party leader (and in turn, the first Senate Democratic Leader), while serving concurrently as Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. In 1925 the majority (at the time) Republicans 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.

The 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 leader of the body 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 than the majority and is not a member subject to discipline, the rules of procedure of the Senate give the presiding officer very little power and none 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 bills.

List of party leaders

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

Cong- ress	Dates	Democratic Whip	Democratic Leader	Majority	Republican Leader	Republican Whip
63rd	March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1915	J. Hamilton Lewis	None	Democratic ← Majority	None	None
64th	March 4, 1915 – March 4, 1915	James Wadsworth, Jr.
64th	March 4, 1915 – March 4, 1917	Charles Curtis
65th	March 4, 1917 – March 4, 1919
66th	March 4, 1919 – March 4, 1921	Peter Gerry	Oscar Underwood	Republican Majority →	Henry Cabot Lodge (unofficial)
67th	March 4, 1921 – March 4, 1923
68th	March 4, 1923 – November 9, 1924	Joseph Taylor Robinson
68th	1925	Charles Curtis	Wesley Jones
69th	March 4, 1925 – March 4, 1927
70th	March 4, 1927 – March 4, 1929
71st	March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1931	Morris Sheppard	James E. Watson	Simeon Fess
72nd	March 4, 1931 – March 4, 1933
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^{[Note 1]}
75th	January 3, 1937 – July 14, 1937
75th	July 22, 1937 – January 3, 1939		Alben W. Barkley
76th	January 3, 1939 – ?		Sherman Minton
76th	1940		Warren Austin (acting)
77th	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943		Lister Hill	Charles L. McNary
78th	January 3, 1943 – February 25, 1944	Kenneth Wherry
78th	February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945	Wallace H. White Jr. (acting)
79th	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947	Wallace H. White Jr.
80th	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	Scott Lucas	Republican Majority →
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 Johnson	Ernest McFarland
82nd	January 3, 1952 – January 3, 1953	Styles Bridges
83rd	January 3, 1953 – July 31, 1953	Earle Clements	Lyndon Johnson	Republican Majority →	Robert A. Taft
83rd	August 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955	William F. 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	Everett M. Dirksen	Thomas Kuchel
87th	January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963	Hubert Humphrey	Mike Mansfield
88th	January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965
89th	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1967	Russell Long
90th	January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969
91st	January 3, 1969 – September 7, 1969	Ted Kennedy	Hugh Scott
91st	September 24, 1969 – January 3, 1971	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 – January 3, 1981
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 – January 3, 2003^{[Note 2]}	Democratic ← Majority
108th	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005	Republican Majority →	Bill Frist	Mitch McConnell
109th	January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007	Richard Durbin	Harry Reid
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 →

Notes

↑ No Republican whips were appointed from 1935 to 1944 since only 17 Republicans were in the Senate following the landslide reelection of President Franklin 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." Source: Party Whips, via Senate.gov
↑ Democrats remained in control after November 25, 2002, despite a Republican majority resulting from Jim Talent's special election victory in Missouri. There was no reorganization as Senate was no longer in session. Party Division in the Senate, 1789–present, via Senate.gov

External links

Majority and Minority Leaders and Party Whips, via Senate.gov
Senate Majority
Republican Minority

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