Senate Republican Conference
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The Senate Republican Conference is the formal organization of the
Current hierarchy
Effective as of January 3, 2023[update], the conference leadership is as follows:
- Mitch McConnell (KY) as Senate Minority Leader (retiring in January 2025)
- Senate Minority Whip
- Chairman of the Republican Conference
- Senate Republican Policy Committee
- Vice Chairwoman of the Republican Conference
- Steve Daines (MT) as Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
- Mike Lee (UT) as Chairman of the Senate Republican Steering Committee
- Mike Crapo (ID) as Senate Republican Chief Deputy Whip
- President pro tempore emeritus
History
The Republican Conference of the United States Senate is a descendant of the early
The steering committee, formalized Republican "leadership" in the 19th century was minimal; most legislative guidance came from powerful committee chairmen managing particular bills. The conference began to acquire significance, however, with the election of Senator
The conference continued to meet in private to assure confidentiality and candor. This practice was suspended only once, on May 27, 1919, when the conference reaffirmed its commitment to the seniority system for choosing committee chairmen by electing Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania as chairman of the finance committee over objections from Progressive Republican insurgents. (This was apparently the only open party conference in the history of the Senate.)
During this period, the chairman also served as informal floor leader. One reason for the lack of a formal post was that committee chairmen usually took responsibility to move to proceed to the consideration of measures reported by their respective committees and managed the legislation on the floor. The first recorded Conference election of a formal floor leader was held March 5, 1925, when the conference chairman, Senator Curtis of Kansas, was unanimously chosen to serve in both posts.
Throughout the 1920s, when Republicans held the Senate majority, the conference met chiefly at the beginning of each session to make committee assignments; for the remainder of the session, Members were notified of the order of business by mail. This slow pace continued through the 1930s, when Republican Senators were so few that they dispensed with a permanent whip, and the conference chairman and floor leader, Senator Charles L. McNary of Oregon, appointed Senators to serve as whip on particular pieces of legislation.
Senator McNary died in 1944, and the posts of conference chairman and floor leader were separated in 1945. Senator
In 1944, Senator
Meetings of Republican Conference
The form and frequency of conference meetings has depended upon leadership personalities and legislative circumstances. Since the late 1950s, the conference has met at the beginning of each
- When the Republican Policy Committee meets weekly, it is actually a meeting of the Republican Conference over the luncheon table, at which time we discuss all matters of pending business. Thus, so far as possible, all the information which is within the possession and the command of the leadership is freely diffused to every member.
At the time Senator Dirksen spoke, the elected party leadership included: chairman of the conference, secretary of the conference, floor leader, whip (now assistant floor leader), and chairman of the Policy Committee. On July 31, 1980, Conference rules were amended to make the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee an elected position, a change which brought the rules into conformity with what had become custom.
"Conference" versus "caucus"
The Republican Conference has never been a caucus in the dictionary sense, that is, a "partisan legislative group that uses caucus procedures to make decisions binding on its members." Even during the tense years of
- To make clear and beyond question the long-settled policy of Republicans that our Conferences are not caucuses or of binding effect upon those participating therein but are meetings solely for the purpose of exchanging views to promote harmony and united action so far as possible.
- Be It Resolved: That no Senator attending this Conference or any Conference held hereafter shall be deemed to be bound in any way by any action taken by such Conference, but he shall be entirely free to act upon any matter considered by the Conference as his judgment may dictate, and it shall not be necessary for any Senator to give notice of his intention to take action different from any recommended by the Conference."
Floor leaders
Congress | Leader | State | Took office | Left office | |
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69th | Charles Curtis (1860–1936) |
Kansas | November 28, 1924 | March 3, 1929 | |
70th | |||||
71st | James Eli Watson (1874–1944) |
Indiana | March 4, 1929 | March 4, 1933 | |
72nd | |||||
73rd | Charles L. McNary (1874–1944) |
Oregon | March 4, 1933 | February 25, 1944[a] | |
74th | |||||
75th | |||||
76th | |||||
77th | |||||
78th | |||||
79th | Wallace H. White (1877–1952) |
Maine | February 25, 1944 | January 3, 1949 | |
80th | |||||
81st | Kenneth S. Wherry (1892–1951) |
Nebraska | January 3, 1949 | November 29, 1951 | |
82nd | |||||
83rd | Robert A. Taft (1889–1953) |
Ohio | January 3, 1953 | July 31, 1953 | |
84th | William Knowland (1908–1974) |
California | August 3, 1953 | January 3, 1959 | |
85th | |||||
86th | Everett Dirksen (1896–1969) |
Illinois | January 3, 1959 | September 7, 1969 | |
87th | |||||
88th | |||||
89th | |||||
90th | |||||
91st | |||||
92nd | Hugh Scott (1900–1994) |
Pennsylvania | September 24, 1969 | January 3, 1977 | |
93rd | |||||
94th | |||||
95th | Howard Baker (1925–2014) |
Tennessee | January 3, 1977 | January 3, 1985[b] | |
96th | |||||
97th | |||||
98th | |||||
99th | Bob Dole (1923–2021) |
Kansas | January 3, 1985 | June 11, 1996[c] | |
100th | |||||
101st | |||||
102nd | |||||
103rd | |||||
104th | |||||
105th | Trent Lott (born 1941) |
Mississippi | June 11, 1996 | January 3, 2003 | |
106th | |||||
107th | |||||
108th | Bill Frist (born 1952) |
Tennessee | January 3, 2003 | January 3, 2007 | |
109th | |||||
110th | Mitch McConnell (born 1942) |
Kentucky | January 3, 2007 | Incumbent | |
111th | |||||
112th | |||||
113th | |||||
114th | |||||
115th | |||||
116th | |||||
117th | |||||
118th |
List of conference chairmen and chairwomen
The Republican conference of the United States Senate chooses a conference chairperson. The office was created in the mid-19th century with the
In recent years, the conference chair has come to be regarded as the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, behind the floor leader and whip. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The conference chairman manages the private meetings to elect floor leaders, handles distribution of committee assignments and helps set legislative priorities. The modern version drives the conference’s message, with broadcast studios for television and radio."[3]
Dates | Name | State | Notes |
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1859 – December 1862 | John P. Hale | New Hampshire | |
December 1862 – September 2, 1884 | Henry B. Anthony | Rhode Island | |
September 2, 1884 – December 1885 | John Sherman | Ohio | |
December 1885 – November 1, 1891 | George F. Edmunds | Vermont | |
December 1891 – March 4, 1897 | John Sherman | Ohio | |
March 4, 1897 – August 4, 1908 | William B. Allison | Iowa | |
December 1908 – March 4, 1911 | Eugene Hale | Maine | |
April 1911 – March 4, 1913 | Shelby Moore Cullom
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Illinois | |
March 4, 1913 – August 17, 1918 | Jacob Harold Gallinger
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New Hampshire | |
August 17, 1918 – November 9, 1924 | Henry Cabot Lodge | Massachusetts | |
November 28, 1924 – March 4, 1929 | Charles Curtis | Kansas | Also Republican floor leader from 1925 |
March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 | James Eli Watson
|
Indiana | Also Republican floor leader |
March 4, 1933 – February 25, 1944 | Charles L. McNary | Oregon | Also Republican floor leader |
February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1947 Acting: February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945 |
Arthur Vandenberg | Michigan | |
January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1957 | Eugene Millikin | Colorado | |
January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1967 | Leverett Saltonstall | Massachusetts | |
January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1973 | Margaret Chase Smith | Maine | |
January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975 | Norris Cotton | New Hampshire | |
January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979 | Carl Curtis | Nebraska | |
January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981 | Bob Packwood | Oregon | |
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1985 | James A. McClure
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Idaho | |
January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1991 | John Chafee | Rhode Island | |
January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1997 | Thad Cochran | Mississippi | |
January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2001 | Connie Mack III | Florida | |
January 3, 2001 – January 3, 2007 | Rick Santorum | Pennsylvania | |
January 3, 2007 – December 19, 2007 | Jon Kyl | Arizona | |
December 19, 2007 – January 26, 2012 | Lamar Alexander | Tennessee | |
January 26, 2012 – January 3, 2019 | John Thune | South Dakota | |
January 3, 2019 – present | John Barrasso | Wyoming |
List of Secretary and Vice Chairman
The Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference, also known previously as the Conference Secretary until 2001, is the fifth-ranking leadership position (behind the
Officeholder | State | Term |
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Charles Curtis | Kansas | 1911–1913 |
William Kenyon | Iowa | 1913–1915 |
James Wadsworth
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New York | 1915–1927 |
Frederick Hale
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Maine | 1927–1941 |
Wallace H. White Jr.
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Maine | 1941–1944 |
Harold Burton
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Ohio | 1944–1945 |
Chan Gurney
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South Dakota | 1945–1946 |
Milton Young | North Dakota | 1946–1971 |
Norris Cotton | New Hampshire | 1971–1973 |
Wallace F. Bennett | Utah | 1973–1975 |
Robert Stafford | Vermont | 1975–1977 |
Clifford Hansen | Wyoming | 1977–1976 |
Jake Garn | Utah | 1979–1985 |
Thad Cochran | Mississippi | 1985–1991 |
Bob Kasten | Wisconsin | 1991–1993 |
Trent Lott | Mississippi | 1993–1995 |
Connie Mack | Florida | 1995–1997 |
Paul Coverdell | Georgia | 1997–2000 |
Kay Bailey Hutchison[d] | Texas | 2001–2007 |
John Cornyn | Texas | 2007–2009 |
John Thune | South Dakota | 2009 |
Lisa Murkowski | Alaska | 2009–2010 |
John Barrasso | Wyoming | 2010–2012 |
Roy Blunt | Missouri | 2012–2019 |
Joni Ernst | Iowa | 2019–2023 |
Shelley Moore Capito | West Virginia | 2023–present |
Members
Alabama Alaska
Arkansas
Florida
Idaho
Indiana Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana Maine Mississippi
Missouri |
Montana
Nebraska North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee Texas
Utah West Virginia
Wisconsin Wyoming
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Notes
- ^ Warren Austin (Vermont) was acting Leader from 1940-1941.
- ^ Ted Stevens (Alaska) was acting Leader from 1979-1980
- ^ Resigned in order to run for President of the United States
- ^ Position known as Vice Chair from here on
References
- ^ Blunt wins Senate GOP leadership post [1][dead link]
- ^ "Capito elected to GOP Leadership". Senate.gov. November 16, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
- ^ a b "With Lott's Exit, Kyl to Assume Republican Whip Position Unopposed". 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-11-04. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Republican Conference Secretaries/Vice Chair".
External links
- Official home of the Senate Republican Conference
- About the Senate Republican Conference — The content of this article was derived from this public domain resource.
- Information on Senate party leadership
- Minutes of the Senate Republican Conference: Sixty-second Congress through Eighty-eighth Congress, 1911-1964, edited by Wendy Wolff and Donald A. Ritchie. Washington: GPO, 1999, Senate Document 105-19.