Dean of the United States Senate

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Dean of United States Senate
Incumbent Patrick Leahy since 2012
Member of	United States Senate
Formation	1789
First holder	James Gunn

The Dean of the United States Senate is an informal term for the senator with the longest continuous service, regardless of party affiliation. This is not an official position within the Senate, although customarily (since 1945) the longest-serving member of the majority party serves as president pro tempore.

The current Dean is Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. He has been in the Senate since 1975 and became Dean in 2012 with the death in office of Daniel Inouye. After Patrick Leahy resigns, retires, or dies, the next Dean of the United States Senate may be Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California or Senator Patty Murray of Washington.

List of deans[]

Party deans[]

For additional information, here is a list of most senior senators by party, listed in reverse chronological order.

Democratic[]

• Patrick Leahy (Vermont), 2012–present
• Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), 2010–2012
• Robert Byrd (West Virginia), 1989–2010
• John C. Stennis (Mississippi), 1981–1989
• Warren Magnuson (Washington), 1978–1981
• James Eastland (Mississippi), 1972–1978
• Allen J. Ellender (Louisiana), 1971–1972
• Richard B. Russell (Georgia), 1969–1971
• Carl Hayden (Arizona), 1957–1969
• Walter F. George (Georgia), 1953–1957
• Kenneth McKellar (Tennessee), 1944–1953
• Ellison D. Smith (South Carolina), 1931–1944
• Furnifold McLendel Simmons (North Carolina), 1923–1931
• Charles Allen Culberson (Texas), 1919–1923
• Thomas S. Martin (Virginia), 1918–1919
• Benjamin Tillman (South Carolina), 1910–1918
• John W. Daniel (Virginia), 1909–1910
• Henry M. Teller (Colorado), 1908–1909
• William Pinkney Whyte (Maryland), 1907–1908
• John Tyler Morgan (Alabama), 1905–1907
• Francis Cockrell (Missouri), 1895–1905
• Matt Whitaker Ransom (North Carolina), 1889–1895
• Eli M. Saulsbury (Delaware), 1885–1889
• Thomas F. Bayard (Delaware), 1873–1885
• George Vickers (Maryland), 1872–1873
• Garrett Davis (Kentucky), 1871–1872
• Willard Saulsbury Sr. (Delaware), 1865–1871
• John P. Hale (New Hampshire), 1864–1865
• James A. Bayard Jr. (Delaware), 1862–1864
• James Pearce (Maryland), 1856–1862
• Jesse D. Bright (Indiana), 1855–1856
• David Rice Atchison (Missouri), 1851–1855
• Thomas Hart Benton (Missouri), 1844–1851
• William R. King (Alabama), 1833–1844
• Mahlon Dickerson (New Jersey), 1828–1833
• Nathaniel Macon (North Carolina), 1826–1828

Republican[]

• Chuck Grassley (Iowa), 2019–present
• Orrin Hatch (Utah), 2013–2019
• Richard Lugar (Indiana), 2009–2013
• Ted Stevens (Alaska), 2003–2009
• Strom Thurmond (South Carolina), 1981–2003
• Milton R. Young (North Dakota), 1975–1981
• George Aiken (Vermont), 1963–1975
• Alexander Wiley (Wisconsin), 1961–1963
• Styles Bridges (New Hampshire), 1951–1961
• Arthur Vandenberg (Michigan), 1949–1951
• Arthur Capper (Kansas), 1945–1949
• Hiram W. Johnson (California), 1940–1945
• William E. Borah (Idaho) 1933–1940
• Reed Smoot (Utah), 1929–1933
• Francis E. Warren (Wyoming), 1924–1929
• Henry Cabot Lodge (Massachusetts), 1918–1924
• Jacob H. Gallinger (New Hampshire), 1913–1918
• Shelby Moore Cullom (Illinois), 1911–1913
• William P. Frye (Maine), 1911
• Eugene Hale (Maine), 1908–1911
• William B. Allison (Iowa), 1898–1908
• Justin Smith Morrill (Vermont), 1891–1898
• George F. Edmunds (Vermont), 1884–1891
• Henry B. Anthony (Rhode Island), 1875–1884
• Zachariah Chandler (Michigan), 1873–1875
• Henry Wilson (Massachusetts), 1872–1873
• Charles Sumner (Massachusetts), 1869–1872
• Benjamin Wade (Ohio), 1866–1869
• Solomon Foot (Vermont), 1861–1866
• William H. Seward (New York), 1854–1861

Whig[]

• Henry S. Geyer (Missouri), 1856–1857
• James Pearce (Maryland), 1853–1856
• Willie Person Mangum (North Carolina), 1851–1853
• Samuel S. Phelps (Vermont), 1847–1851
• Thomas Clayton (Delaware), 1845–1847
• William Cabell Rives (Virginia), 1844–1845
• Nathaniel P. Tallmadge (New York), 1842–1844
• Samuel Prentiss (Vermont), 1841–1842
• Nehemiah R. Knight (Rhode Island), 1833–1841

National Republican[]

• Nehemiah R. Knight (Rhode Island), 1833
• Benjamin Ruggles (Ohio), 1825–1833

Democratic-Republican[]

• John Gaillard (South Carolina), 1815–1826
• Joseph Anderson (Tennessee), 1805–1815
• John Brown (Kentucky), 1801–1805
• John Langdon (New Hampshire), 1799–1801

Federalist[]

• Rufus King (New York), 1821–1825
• Outerbridge Horsey (Delaware), 1813–1821
• Chauncey Goodrich (Connecticut), 1813
• James A. Bayard (Delaware), 1811–1813
• Timothy Pickering (Massachusetts), 1810–1811
• James Hillhouse (Connecticut), 1807–1810
• Uriah Tracy (Connecticut), 1803–1807
• Theodore Foster (Rhode Island), 1801–1803
• James Gunn (Georgia), 1799–1801

Pro-Administration[]

• James Gunn (Georgia), 1796–1799
• Oliver Ellsworth (Connecticut), 1795–1796
• Pierce Butler (South Carolina), 1789–1795

Anti-Administration[]

• John Langdon (New Hampshire), 1796–1799
• Pierce Butler (South Carolina), 1795–1796
• John Langdon (New Hampshire), 1793–1795
• Richard Bassett (Delaware), 1789–1793

See also[]

• Baby of the United States Senate
• Oldest living United States president
• Dean of the United States House of Representatives
• List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service

References[]

• Senators of the United States