Conference Chairpersons
Chapter 1: Conference Chairpersons
Chapter 2: Republican Conference Chairpersons
Chapter 3: Democratic Conference Chairpersons
Conference Chairpersons
Members of each major party meet in closed sessions known as party conferences (or party caucuses) to elect floor leaders, make committee assignments, and set legislative agendas. The Democratic floor leader serves as chair of the party conference, while the Republican party separates the positions, electing a chairperson for the party conference, apart from the floor leader.
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Republican Conference Chairpersons
John P. Hale (NH)
Term: Term ended 1862
Henry B. Anthony (RI)
Term: 1862-1884
John Sherman (OH)
Term: 1884-1885
George Edmunds (VT)
Term: 1885-1891
John Sherman (OH)
Term: 1891-1897
William B. Allison (IA)
Term: 1897-1908
Eugene Hale (ME)
Term: 1908-1911
Shelby Cullom (IL)
Term: 1911-1913
Jacob H. Gallinger (NH)
Term: 1913-1918
Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. (MA)
Term: 1918-1924
Charles Curtis (KS)
Term: 1924-1929
Note: Republican senators elected Charles Curtis of Kansas as conference chairman on November 28, 1924, and as their first floor leader on March 5, 1925. Curtis, James Watson, and Charles McNary all served in dual roles as conference chairmen and party floor leaders. In 1945, the two positions were separated, with Arthur Vandenberg becoming conference chairman while Wallace H. White became Republican party floor leader. The positions have remained separated.
James E. Watson (IN)
Term: 1929-1933
Note: Also served as Republican floor leader.
Charles L. McNary (OR)
Term: 1933-1944
Note: Also served as Republican floor leader.
Arthur H. Vandenberg (MI)
Term: 1945-1946
Eugene D. Millikin (CO)
Term: 1947-1956
Leverett Saltonstall (MA)
Term: 1957-1966
Margaret Chase Smith (ME)
Term: 1967-1972
Norris Cotton (NH)
Term: 1973-1974
Carl T. Curtis (NE)
Term: 1975-1978
Robert Packwood (OR)
Term: 1979-1980
James A. McClure (ID)
Term: 1981-1984
John Chafee (RI)
Term: 1985-1990
William Thad Cochran (MS)
Term: 1991-1996
Connie Mack (FL)
Term: 1997-2001
Richard J. Santorum (PA)
Term: 2001-2007
Jon Kyl (AZ)
Term: 2007
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Term: 2008-2012
John Thune (SD)
Term: 2012-present
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Democratic Conference Chairpersons
John W. Stevenson (KY)
Term: Term ended 1877
William Wallace (PA)
Term: 1877-1881
George Pendleton (OH)
Term: 1881-1885
James Beck (KY)
Term: 1885-1890
Arthur P. Gorman (MD)
Term: 1890-1898
David Turpie (IN)
Term: 1898-1899
James K. Jones (AR)
Term: 1899-1903
Arthur P. Gorman (MD)
Term: 1903-1906
Joseph C.S. Blackburn (KY)
Term: 1906-1907
Charles A. Culberson (TX)
Term: 1907-1909
Hernando D. Money (MS)
Term: 1909-1911
Thomas S. Martin (VA)
Term: 1911-1913
John Worth Kern (IN)
Term: 1913-1917
Thomas S. Martin (VA)
Term: 1917-1919
Oscar W. Underwood (AL)
Term: 1920-1923
Note: Beginning in 1920, the Democratic Conference chairperson also served as Democratic floor leader. In that year, Oscar Underwood became the first officially designated Democratic floor leader, and the tradition of combining the two positions continues to this day.
Joseph T. Robinson (AR)
Term: 1923-1937
Alben W. Barkley (KY)
Term: 1937-1949
Scott W. Lucas (IL)
Term: 1949-1951
Ernest W. McFarland (AZ)
Term: 1951-1953
Lyndon B. Johnson (TX)
Term: 1953-1961
Mike Mansfield (MT)
Term: 1961-1977
Robert C. Byrd (WV)
Term: 1977-1989
George J. Mitchell (ME)
Term: 1989-1995
Thomas A. Daschle (SD)
Term: 1995-January 3, 2005
Harry M. Reid (NV)
Term: January 3, 2005--
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Related Publications:
U.S. Congress. Senate. 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. (Available online in pdf format.)
U.S. Congress. Senate. Minutes of the Senate Democratic Conference: Fifty-eighth through Eighty-eighth Congresses, 1903-1964, edited by Donald A. Ritchie. Washington, GPO, 1999. Senate Document 105-20. (Available online in pdf format.)
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