Seniority in the United States Senate

United States senators are conventionally ranked by the length of their tenure in the Senate. The senator in each U.S. state with the longer time in office is known as the senior senator; the other is the junior senator. This convention has no official standing, though seniority confers several benefits, including preference in the choice of committee assignments and physical offices. When senators have been in office for the same length of time, a number of tiebreakers, including previous offices held, are used to determine seniority. By tradition, the longest serving senator of the majority party is named president pro tempore of the Senate, the second-highest office in the Senate and the third in the line of succession to the presidency of the United States.^[1]

Benefits of seniority

The United States Constitution does not mandate differences in rights or power, but Senate rules give more power to senators with more seniority. Generally, senior senators will have more power, especially within their own caucuses.

There are several benefits, including the following:

Traditionally, the most senior member of the majority party is named president pro tempore of the Senate.
Senators are given preferential treatment in choosing committee assignments based on seniority. Seniority on a committee is based on length of time serving on that committee, which means a senator may rank above another in committee seniority but be more junior in the full Senate. Although the committee chairmanship is an elected position, it is traditionally given to the most senior senator of the majority party serving on the committee, and not already holding a conflicting position such as chairmanship of another committee. The ranking member of a committee (called the vice-chairman in some select committees) is elected in the same way.
Greater seniority enables a senator to choose a desk closer to the front of the Senate Chamber.
Senators with higher seniority may choose to move into better office space as those offices are vacated.^[2]
Seniority determines the ranking in the United States order of precedence.

Determining the beginning of a term

The beginning of an appointment does not necessarily coincide with the date the Senate convenes or when the new senator is sworn in.^[3]

General elections

In the case of senators first elected in a general election for the upcoming Congress, their terms begin on the first day of the new Congress. For most of American history this was March 4 of odd-numbered years, but effective from 1935 the 20th Amendment moved this to January 3 of odd-numbered years.

Run-off elections and special elections

In the case of senators elected in a run-off election occurring after the commencement of a new term, or a special election, their seniority date will be the date they are sworn in and not the first day of that Congress. A senator may be simultaneously elected to fill a term in a special election and elected to the six-year term which begins on the upcoming January 3. Their seniority is that of someone chosen in a special election.

Appointments

The seniority date for an appointed senator is usually the date of the appointment,^{[citation needed]} although the actual term does not begin until they take the oath of office. An incoming senator who holds another office, including membership in the U.S. House of Representatives, must resign from that office before becoming a senator. In the 1970s, some senators would resign a few days or weeks early so that their successor may be appointed to the seat and have greater seniority than other freshmen. In 1980, party rule changes removed seniority advantages in such cases.^[4]^[3]

Determining length of seniority

A senator's seniority is primarily determined by length of continuous service; for example, a senator who has served for 12 years is more senior than one who has served for 10 years. Because several new senators usually join at the beginning of a new Congress, seniority is determined by prior federal or state government service and, if necessary, the amount of time spent in the tiebreaking office. These tiebreakers in order are:^[3]

Former senator
Former Vice President of the United States
Former member of the United States House of Representatives
Former member of the Cabinet of the United States
Former state governor
Population of state based on the most recent census when the senator took office

When more than one senator had such office, its length of time is used to break the tie. For instance, Jerry Moran, John Boozman, John Hoeven, Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, Richard Blumenthal, and Mike Lee all took office on January 3, 2011. The first two senators mentioned had served in the House of Representatives: Moran had served for 14 years and Boozman for nine. As a former governor, Hoeven was ranked immediately after the former House members. The rest were ranked by population as of the 2000 census. These ranked from 36th to 43rd in seniority when the 118th United States Congress convened.

If two senators are tied on all criteria, the one whose surname comes first alphabetically is considered the senior senator. This happened with Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both of Georgia, who were sworn in on January 20, 2021. Because they were both newly elected senators from the same state, with no prior government service, no other tie-breaking criteria could be used. The Senate's official records, as well as the Democratic Caucus, thus consider Ossoff, whose name comes first alphabetically and elected to a full six-year term, as the senior senator.^[3]^[5]^[6]

Current seniority list

Only relevant factors are listed below. For senators whose seniority is based on their state's respective population, the state population ranking is given as determined by the relevant United States census current at the time that they began service.^[7]^[8]

Republican (49) Democratic (47) Independent (4)

Current rank	Historical rank^[a]^[3]	Senator	Party		State	Seniority date	Other factors	Committee and leadership positions
1	1743	Chuck Grassley		Republican	Iowa	January 3, 1981		President pro tempore emeritus Ranking Member: Budget Ranking Member: Narcotics Caucus
2	1766	Mitch McConnell		Republican	Kentucky	January 3, 1985		Senate Minority Leader
3	1810	Patty Murray		Democratic	Washington	January 3, 1993		President pro tempore Chair: Appropriations
4	1827	Ron Wyden			Oregon	February 6, 1996		Chair: Finance
5	1831	Dick Durbin			Illinois	January 3, 1997	Former House member (14 years)	Senate Majority Whip Chair: Judiciary
6	1835	Jack Reed			Rhode Island		Former House member (6 years)	Chair: Armed Services
7	1842	Susan Collins		Republican	Maine			Ranking Member: Appropriations
8	1844	Chuck Schumer		Democratic	New York	January 3, 1999	Former House member (18 years)	Senate Majority Leader
9	1846	Mike Crapo		Republican	Idaho	January 3, 1999	Former House member (6 years)	Republican Chief Deputy Whip Ranking Member: Finance
10	1855	Tom Carper		Democratic	Delaware	January 3, 2001	Former House member (10 years)	Chair: Environment
11	1856	Debbie Stabenow			Michigan		Former House member (4 years)	Chair: Democratic Policy Committee Chair: Agriculture
12	1859	Maria Cantwell^[b]			Washington		Former House member (2 years)	Chair: Commerce
13	1867	John Cornyn		Republican	Texas	December 2, 2002
14	1868	Lisa Murkowski			Alaska	December 20, 2002^[c]		Ranking Member: Indian Affairs
15	1870	Lindsey Graham			South Carolina	January 3, 2003^[3]		Ranking Member: Judiciary
16	1879	John Thune			South Dakota	January 3, 2005		Senate Minority Whip
17	1886	Ben Cardin		Democratic	Maryland	January 3, 2007	Former House member (20 years)	Chair: Foreign Relations
18	1887	Bernie Sanders		Independent	Vermont		Former House member (16 years)	Chair: Democratic Outreach Committee Chair: HELP
19	1888	Sherrod Brown		Democratic	Ohio		Former House member (14 years)	Chair: Banking
20	1890	Bob Casey Jr.			Pennsylvania		Pennsylvania 6th in population (2000)	Chair: Aging
21	1893	Amy Klobuchar			Minnesota		Minnesota 21st in population (2000)	Chair: Democratic Steering Committee Chair: Rules
22	1894	Sheldon Whitehouse			Rhode Island		Rhode Island 43rd in population (2000)	Chair: Budget Chair: Narcotics Caucus
23	1895	Jon Tester			Montana		Montana 44th in population (2000)	Chair: Veterans' Affairs
24	1896	John Barrasso		Republican	Wyoming	June 22, 2007^[c]		Chair: Republican Conference Ranking Member: Energy
25	1897	Roger Wicker		Republican	Mississippi	December 31, 2007^[c]		Ranking Member: Armed Services
26	1901	Jeanne Shaheen		Democratic	New Hampshire	January 3, 2009	Former governor (6 years)	Vice Chair: Democratic Steering Committee Chair: Small Business
27	1902	Mark Warner		Democratic	Virginia		Former governor (4 years)	Vice Chair: Democratic Caucus Chair: Intelligence
28	1903	Jim Risch		Republican	Idaho		Former governor (7 months)	Ranking Member: Foreign Relations
29	1905	Jeff Merkley		Democratic	Oregon			Democratic Chief Deputy Whip
30	1909	Michael Bennet			Colorado	January 21, 2009^[c]
31	1910	Kirsten Gillibrand			New York	January 26, 2009^[c]
32	1916	Joe Manchin		Independent^[d]	West Virginia	November 15, 2010	Former governor	Vice Chair: Democratic Policy Committee Chair: Energy
33	1917	Chris Coons		Democratic	Delaware	November 15, 2010		Chair: Ethics
34	1920	Jerry Moran		Republican	Kansas	January 3, 2011	Former House member (14 years)	Ranking Member: Veterans' Affairs
35	1922	John Boozman			Arkansas		Former House member (9 years)	Ranking Member: Agriculture
36	1924	John Hoeven			North Dakota		Former governor
37	1925	Marco Rubio			Florida		Florida 4th in population (2000)	Vice Chair: Intelligence
38	1926	Ron Johnson			Wisconsin		Wisconsin 20th in population (2000)
39	1927	Rand Paul			Kentucky		Kentucky 25th in population (2000)	Ranking Member: Homeland Security
40	1928	Richard Blumenthal		Democratic	Connecticut		Connecticut 29th in population (2000)
41	1929	Mike Lee		Republican	Utah		Utah 34th in population (2000)	Chair: Republican Steering Committee
42	1932	Brian Schatz		Democratic	Hawaii	December 26, 2012^[c]		Deputy Secretary: Democratic Caucus Chair: Indian Affairs
43	1933	Tim Scott		Republican	South Carolina	January 2, 2013^[c]		Ranking Member: Banking
44	1934	Tammy Baldwin		Democratic	Wisconsin	January 3, 2013	Former House member (14 years)	Secretary: Democratic Caucus
45	1937	Chris Murphy			Connecticut		Former House member (6 years); Connecticut 29th in population (2010)
46	1938	Mazie Hirono			Hawaii		Former House member (6 years); Hawaii 40th in population (2010)
47	1939	Martin Heinrich			New Mexico		Former House member (4 years)
48	1940	Angus King		Independent	Maine		Former governor (8 years)
49	1941	Tim Kaine		Democratic	Virginia		Former governor (4 years)
50	1942	Ted Cruz		Republican	Texas		Texas 2nd in population (2010)	Ranking Member: Commerce
51	1943	Elizabeth Warren		Democratic	Massachusetts		Massachusetts 14th in population (2010)	Vice Chair: Democratic Caucus
52	1944	Deb Fischer		Republican	Nebraska		Nebraska 38th in population (2010)	Ranking Member: Rules
53	1948	Ed Markey		Democratic	Massachusetts	July 16, 2013
54	1949	Cory Booker		Democratic	New Jersey	October 31, 2013		Vice Chair: Democratic Policy Committee
55	1951	Shelley Moore Capito		Republican	West Virginia	January 3, 2015	Former House member (14 years)	Vice Chair: Republican Conference Ranking Member: Environment
56	1952	Gary Peters		Democratic	Michigan		Former House member (6 years); Michigan 8th in population (2010)	Chair: DSCC Chair: Homeland Security
57	1953	Bill Cassidy		Republican	Louisiana		Former House member (6 years); Louisiana 25th in population (2010)	Ranking Member: HELP
58	1955	James Lankford			Oklahoma		Former House member (4 years)	Ranking Member: Ethics
59	1956	Tom Cotton			Arkansas		Former House member (2 years); Arkansas 32nd in population (2010)
60	1957	Steve Daines			Montana		Former House member (2 years); Montana 44th in population (2010)	Chair: NRSC
61	1958	Mike Rounds			South Dakota		Former governor
62	1960	Thom Tillis			North Carolina		North Carolina 10th in population (2010)
63	1961	Joni Ernst			Iowa		Iowa 30th in population (2010)	Chair: Republican Policy Committee Ranking Member: Small Business
64	1963	Dan Sullivan			Alaska		Alaska 47th in population (2010)
65	1964	Chris Van Hollen		Democratic	Maryland	January 3, 2017	Former House member (14 years)
66	1965	Todd Young		Republican	Indiana		Former House member (6 years)
67	1966	Tammy Duckworth		Democratic	Illinois		Former House member (4 years)
68	1967	Maggie Hassan		Democratic	New Hampshire		Former governor
69	1969	John Kennedy		Republican	Louisiana		Louisiana 25th in population (2010)
70	1970	Catherine Cortez Masto		Democratic	Nevada		Nevada 35th in population (2010)	Vice Chair: Democratic Outreach Committee
71	1972	Tina Smith		Democratic	Minnesota	January 3, 2018^[c]		Vice Chair: DSCC
72	1974	Cindy Hyde-Smith		Republican	Mississippi	April 2, 2018^[c]
73	1975	Marsha Blackburn		Republican	Tennessee	January 3, 2019	Former House member (16 years)
74	1976	Kyrsten Sinema		Independent^[e]	Arizona		Former House member (6 years); Arizona 16th in population (2010)
75	1977	Kevin Cramer		Republican	North Dakota		Former House member (6 years); North Dakota 48th in population (2010)
76	1979	Jacky Rosen		Democratic	Nevada		Former House member (2 years)
77	1980	Mitt Romney		Republican	Utah		Former governor
78	1981	Mike Braun			Indiana		Indiana 15th in population (2010)	Ranking Member: Aging
79	1982	Josh Hawley			Missouri		Missouri 18th in population (2010)
80	1983	Rick Scott			Florida	January 8, 2019
81	1985	Mark Kelly		Democratic	Arizona	December 2, 2020
82	1986	Ben Ray Luján		Democratic	New Mexico	January 3, 2021	Former House member (12 years)
83	1987	Cynthia Lummis		Republican	Wyoming		Former House member (8 years)
84	1988	Roger Marshall		Republican	Kansas		Former House member (4 years)
85	1989	John Hickenlooper		Democratic	Colorado		Former governor
86	1990	Bill Hagerty		Republican	Tennessee		Tennessee 17th in population (2010)
87	1991	Tommy Tuberville		Republican	Alabama		Alabama 23rd in population (2010)
88	1992	Alex Padilla		Democratic	California	January 18, 2021^[c]		Vice Chair: DSCC
89	1993	Jon Ossoff^[f]			Georgia	January 20, 2021	'O' 15th letter of the alphabet^[9]
90	1994	Raphael Warnock			Georgia	January 20, 2021	'W' 23rd letter of the alphabet^[9]
91	1995	Peter Welch			Vermont	January 3, 2023	Former House member (16 years)
92	1996	Markwayne Mullin		Republican	Oklahoma		Former House member (10 years)
93	1997	Ted Budd		Republican	North Carolina		Former House member (6 years)
94	1998	John Fetterman		Democratic	Pennsylvania		Pennsylvania 5th in population (2020)
95	1999	JD Vance		Republican	Ohio		Ohio 7th in population (2020)
96	2000	Eric Schmitt			Missouri		Missouri 19th in population (2020)
97	2001	Katie Britt			Alabama		Alabama 24th in population (2020)
98	2002	Pete Ricketts			Nebraska	January 12, 2023^[c]
99	2005	Adam Schiff		Democratic	California	December 8, 2024^[c]	Former House member (24 years)
100	2006	Andy Kim		Democratic	New Jersey	December 8, 2024^[c]	Former House member (6 years)
Rank	Historical rank^[a]^[3]	Senator	Party		State	Seniority date	Other factors	Committee and leadership positions

Notes

^ ^a ^b "Historical rank" refers to the Senator's seniority over the entire history of the Senate since 1789. This is an absolute number that does not change from one Congress to the next.
^ Maria Cantwell (#12) is the Senate's most senior junior senator.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l The seniority date for an appointed senator is the date of the appointment, not necessarily the date of taking the oath of office. See Determining the beginning of a term, above.
^ Joe Manchin's 2024 exit from the Democratic Party did not break his service or seniority.
^ Kyrsten Sinema's 2022 exit from the Democratic Party did not break her service or seniority.
^ Jon Ossoff (#89) is the Senate's most junior senior senator.

References

^ Kilgore, Ed (November 17, 2021). "Californians Move Toward Lock on Presidential Succession". Intelligencer. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
^ Saksa, Jim (December 2, 2022). "Halls of power(ball): New House members pick their offices via lottery". Roll Call. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Senators of the United States 1789–present, A chronological list of senators since the First Congress in 1789" (PDF). Senate Historical Office. January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
^ "Levin wins seniority rules change". The Muskegon Chronicle. December 7, 1980.
^ Bluestein, Greg. "'A new era': Ossoff, Warnock sworn into office, giving Democrats control of U.S. Senate". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
^ "Why Jon Ossoff will be Georgia's senior U.S. Senator". 11Alive.com. January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
^ American FactFinder, United States Census Bureau. "2000 Census State Population Rankings". Factfinder.census.gov. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
^ "Resident Population Data (Text Version) – 2010 Census, by state and census region".
^ ^a ^b Wooten, Nick (January 20, 2021). "Will Ossoff or Warnock be Georgia's senior senator? The answer is a simple one". Ledger-Enquirer. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.

[rank-9] "Historical rank" refers to the Senator's seniority over the entire history of the Senate since 1789. This is an absolute number that does not change from one Congress to the next.

[10] Maria Cantwell (#12) is the Senate's most senior junior senator.

[Appointment-11] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l The seniority date for an appointed senator is the date of the appointment, not necessarily the date of taking the oath of office. See Determining the beginning of a term, above.

[12] Joe Manchin's 2024 exit from the Democratic Party did not break his service or seniority.

[13] Kyrsten Sinema's 2022 exit from the Democratic Party did not break her service or seniority.

[14] Jon Ossoff (#89) is the Senate's most junior senior senator.

[1] Kilgore, Ed (November 17, 2021). "Californians Move Toward Lock on Presidential Succession". Intelligencer. Retrieved February 13, 2022.

[2] Saksa, Jim (December 2, 2022). "Halls of power(ball): New House members pick their offices via lottery". Roll Call. Retrieved December 4, 2024.

[chronolist-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Senators of the United States 1789–present, A chronological list of senators since the First Congress in 1789" (PDF). Senate Historical Office. January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.

[4] "Levin wins seniority rules change". The Muskegon Chronicle. December 7, 1980.

[5] Bluestein, Greg. "'A new era': Ossoff, Warnock sworn into office, giving Democrats control of U.S. Senate". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 22, 2021.

[6] "Why Jon Ossoff will be Georgia's senior U.S. Senator". 11Alive.com. January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2024.

[7] American FactFinder, United States Census Bureau. "2000 Census State Population Rankings". Factfinder.census.gov. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2010.

[8] "Resident Population Data (Text Version) – 2010 Census, by state and census region".

[Georgia-15] Wooten, Nick (January 20, 2021). "Will Ossoff or Warnock be Georgia's senior senator? The answer is a simple one". Ledger-Enquirer. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.

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