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 and conferences in the [United States">Party caucuses and conferences in the United States Congress">caucuses and conferences in the [United States Congress|caucuses]: the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Conference.
By Senate precedent, the Presiding [Officer of the United States Senate|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 [United States House of Representatives|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 of United States senators from South Dakota|South Dakota] and Chuck Schumer of New York. The assistant leaders, or whips, are Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Dick Durbin 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, while serving concurrently as chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
In 1925, the Republicans also adopted this language when Charles Curtis became the first majority leader, although his immediate predecessor Henry Cabot Lodge is considered the first 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.
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.