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The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders (also called Senate Floor Leaders) are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. By custom, 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 and "face" of his or her 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.

Many state senates are organized in the same fashion as the United States Senate.

Current floor leaders

The current floor leaders are Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) (Majority) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (Minority).

History

The position is not designated in the U.S. Constitution. It evolved into existence over time. It was not until the 1920s when the two parties formally began to call their leaders Majority and Minority Leader. The Democrats began this practice starting in 1920 while they were in the minority. In 1925 the majority (of the time) Republicans also adopted this language when Charles Curtis became the first 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. All of these roles still exist today, however, for practical purposes it is now the Majority Leader who runs the Senate.

In recent years it has become more common for the leader of the majority party to be referred to as the "Majority Leader" and the leader of the minority party to be referred to as the "Leader" of his party in order to reduce the implication that "Minority" connotes of lesser power. As an example, it is said that former Senator Bob Dole preferred the title "Senate Republican Leader" while serving as Minority Leader.

2006 elections and the 110th Congress

In the 2006 midterm elections, Democrats regained majority control of the Senate. Therefore, in the 110th Congress, beginning on January 4 2007, there were new floor leaders.

Republicans

Frist announced his retirement before the 2006 midterm elections, leaving the position of Republican Leader open. When the Republicans lost majority control of the Senate in 2007, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky became the Republican/Minority Leader.

Democrats

The Democratic/Minority Leader Harry Reid became Majority Leader in the 110th Congress. Reid's predecessor was Tom Daschle, who lost his Senate seat in the 2004 elections — making him the first floor leader to lose reelection in more than half a century.

List of Senate floor leaders

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

(Names in Bold indicate Majority Leaders)

Congress	Dates	Democratic Leader	State	Republican Leader	State
66th	1920-1921	Oscar W. Underwood	Alabama	Henry Cabot Lodge (unofficial)	Massachusetts
67th	1921-1923
68th	1923-November 9, 1924	Joseph T. Robinson	Arkansas
	1925			Charles Curtis	Kansas
69th	1925-1927
70th	1927-1929
71st	1929-1931			James E. Watson	Indiana
72nd	1931-1933
73rd	1933-1935	Joseph T. Robinson		Charles L. McNary	Oregon
74th	1935-1937
75th	1937-July 14, 1937
	July 22, 1937-1939	Alben W. Barkley	Kentucky
76th	1939
	1940			Warren Austin (acting)	Vermont
77th	1941-1943			Charles L. McNary	Oregon
78th	1943-1945			Wallace H. White Jr. (acting)	Maine
79th	1945-1947			Wallace H. White Jr.
80th	1947-1949	Alben W. Barkley		Wallace H. White Jr.
81st	1949-1951	Scott W. Lucas	Illinois	Kenneth S. Wherry	Nebraska
82nd	1951	Ernest W. McFarland	Arizona
	January 8, 1952-1953			Styles Bridges	New Hampshire
83rd	1953-August 4, 1953	Lyndon Johnson	Texas	Robert A. Taft	Ohio
	August 4, 1953-1955			William F. Knowland	California
84th	1955-1957	Lyndon Johnson		William F. Knowland
85th	1957-1959
86th	1959-1961			Everett M. Dirksen	Illinois
87th	1961-1963	Mike Mansfield	Montana
88th	1963-1965
89th	1965-1967
90th	1967-1969
91st	1969-September 7, 1969
	September 24 1969-1971			Hugh Scott	Pennsylvania
92nd	1971-1973
93rd	1973-1975
94th	1975-1977
95th	1977-1979	Robert Byrd	West Virginia	Howard H. Baker Jr.	Tennessee
96th	1979-1981
97th	1981-1983	Robert Byrd		Howard H. Baker Jr.
98th	1983-1985
99th	1985-1987			Bob Dole	Kansas
100th	1987-1989	Robert Byrd		Bob Dole
101st	1989-1991	George Mitchell	Maine
102nd	1991-1993
103rd	1993-1995
104th	December 2, 1994-June 12, 1996	Tom Daschle	South Dakota	Bob Dole
	June 12, 1996-1997			Trent Lott	Mississippi
105th	1997-1999
106th	1999-2001
107th	January 3, 2001-January 20, 2001	Tom Daschle		Trent Lott
	January 20, 2001-June 6, 2001	Tom Daschle		Trent Lott
	June 6, 2001-November 25 2002	Tom Daschle		Trent Lott
	November 25 2002–December 23, 2002	Tom Daschle[1]
	December 23, 2002-January 3 2003			Bill Frist	Tennessee
108th	2003-2005	Tom Daschle		Bill Frist
109th	2005-2007	Harry Reid	Nevada
110th	2007-present	Harry Reid		Mitch McConnell	Kentucky

See also

• Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives

External links

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

•  • [ e] United States Senate Majority Leaders
Lodge • Curtis • Watson • Robinson • Barkley • White • Lucas • McFarland • Taft • Knowland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Baker • Dole • Byrd • Mitchell • Dole • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Frist • Reid

•  • [ e] United States Senate Minority Leaders
Underwood • Robinson • McNary • Austin • McNary • White • Barkley • Wherry • Bridges • Johnson • Knowland • Dirksen • Scott • Baker • Byrd • Dole • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Frist • Daschle • Reid • McConnell

•  • [ e] United States Congress House of Representatives, Senate — 110th Congress
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