Summary

The Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate, sometimes referred to as the Democratic Conference, is the formal organization of all senators who are part of the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. For the makeup of the 119th Congress, the caucus additionally includes two independent senators (Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Angus King of Maine) who caucus with the Democrats, bringing the current total to 47 members.

The central organizational front for Democrats in the Senate, its primary function is communicating the party’s message to all of its members under a single banner. The present chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus is Chuck Schumer of New York.

OnAir Post: Senate Democratic Leaders – 119th Congress

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Democratic Senate Leaders

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Chuck Schumer – Minority Leader

 Current Position: US Senator since 1998
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Positions: State Senator from 1981 – 1999; State Delegate from 1975 – 1980

U.S. Senator Charles Ellis “Chuck” Schumer has served as Senate Majority Leader since 2021[3] and the senior United States senator from New York since 1999. He has led the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017 and was Senate Minority Leader from 2017 to 2021. Schumer is in his fifth Senate term, making him the longest-serving US senator from New York, having surpassed Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Jacob K. Javits in 2023. He is the dean of New York’s congressional delegation.

OnAir Post: Chuck Schumer – NY

Dick Durbin – Minority Whip

 Current Position: US Senator since 1997
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: US Representative from 1983 – 1997

Senator Durbin is in his fifth Senate term and has served as the Senate Democratic whip since 2005 (the second-highest position in the Democratic leadership in the Senate) and as the Senate majority whip since 2021. He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee,

OnAir Post: Dick Durbin – IL

Amy Klobuchar – Steering Chair

 Current Position: US Senator since 2007
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: Hennepin County Attorney from 1999 – 2007
Other Positions:  Judiciary Committee;  Chair, Rules and Administration Committee;
Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee

Before seeking public office, besides working as a prosecutor, Klobuchar was a partner at the Minnesota law firms Dorsey & Whitney and Gray Plant Mooty, where she specialized in “regulatory work in telecommunications law”.

Klobuchar’s political positions align with modern liberalism. She has focused on healthcare reform, consumer protection, agriculture, and climate change. She is known for her folksy, Midwestern demeanor and ability to win in rural Minnesota.

OnAir Post: Amy Klobuchar – MN

Elizabeth Warren – Vice Conference Chair

 Current Position: US Senator since 2013
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: Law Professor from 1978 – 2013
Other Positions:   Vice Chair of Conference

Warren has focused on consumer protection, equitable economic opportunity, and the social safety net while in the Senate. Warren was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, ultimately finishing third. She has taught law at several universities, including the University of Houston, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University.

After the financial crisis of 2007–2008, her national profile grew after her forceful public stances in favor of more stringent banking regulation.  She served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and proposed and established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for which she served as the first special advisor under President Barack Obama.

OnAir Post: Elizabeth Warren – MA

Cory Booker – Strategic Communication Chair

Senate Democratic Leaders - 119th Congress

Current Position: US Senator since 2013
Affiliation: Democrat
Other Positions: Chair, Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research – Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

Throughout his Senate tenure, Booker has written, sponsored, and passed legislation advancing women’s rights, affirmative action, same-sex marriage, and single-payer healthcare. He has pushed for economic reforms to address wealth inequality in the U.S., particularly the racial wealth gap. Booker has pursued measures to reform the criminal justice system, combat climate change, and restructure national immigration policy.

OnAir Post: Cory Booker – NJ

Bernie Sanders – Outreach Committee Chair

 Current Position: US Senator since 2007
Affiliation: Democrat
Leadership:   Committee on the Budget

History: Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history but has a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, coming second in both campaigns. He is often seen as a leader of the U.S. progressive movement.

While a student, he was a protest organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the civil rights movement.  He was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981 as an independent and was reelected three times. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990, representing Vermont’s at-large congressional district, later co-founding the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

OnAir Post: Bernie Sanders – VT

Kirsten Gillibrand – Senatorial Committee

 Current Position: US Senator since 2009
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: US Representative from 2007 – 2009

Other Positions:  
Subcommittee on Livestock, Marketing and Agriculture Security   Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Subcommittee on Personnel – Armed Services

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s top priorities in the United States Senate include creating more well-paying jobs to rebuild the middle class, increasing access to good, affordable healthcare and improving educational opportunities from pre-k to college or vocational training.

OnAir Post: Kirsten Gillibrand – NY

Mark Warner – Vice Conference Chair

 Current Position: US Senator since 2009
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Positions: Governor from 2002 – 2006; Venture Capital from 1989 – 2001

Other Positions:
Senate Intelligence Committee

When he left the Governorship in 2006, Virginia was ranked as the best state for business, the best managed state, and the best state in which to receive a public education.

OnAir Post: Mark Warner – VA

Tammy Baldwin – Democratic Caucus Chair

 Current: US Senator since 2013
Affiliation: Democrat
Leadership:  Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies and Chair, Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, Climate Change and Manufacturing

History: Baldwin earned a B.A. from Smith College in 1984 and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1989. She was a lawyer in private practice from 1989 to 1992.

Tammy Baldwin served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 78th district, and from 1999 to 2013 represented Wisconsin’s 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. In 2012, Baldwin was elected to the United States Senate, defeating Republican nominee Tommy Thompson

OnAir Post: Tammy Baldwin – WI

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Senate Democratic Caucus Wikipedia

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The Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate, sometimes referred to as the Democratic Conference, is the formal organization of all senators who are part of the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. For the makeup of the 119th Congress, the caucus additionally includes two independent senators (Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Angus King of Maine) who caucus with the Democrats, bringing the current total to 47 members. The central organizational front for Democrats in the Senate, its primary function is communicating the party’s message to all of its members under a single banner. The present chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus is Chuck Schumer of New York.

Current leadership

Effective with the start of the 119th Congress, the conference leadership is as follows:

History

The conference was formally organized on March 6, 1903, electing a chair to preside over its members and a secretary to keep minutes. Until that time, this caucus was often disorganized, philosophically divided and had neither firm written rules of governance nor a clear mission.

Chairs of the Senate Democratic Caucus

Since Oscar Underwood‘s election in 1920, the chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus has also concurrently served as the floor leader as part of an unwritten tradition.

CongressLeaderStateTook officeLeft officeMajority Leader
43rdJohn W. Stevenson
(1812–1886)		KentuckyDecember 1873March 4, 1877 Unknown[b]
44th Unknown[b]
45thWilliam A. Wallace
(1827–1896)		PennsylvaniaMarch 4, 1877March 4, 1881 Unknown[b]
46th Unknown[c]
47thGeorge H. Pendleton
(1825–1889)		OhioMarch 4, 1881March 4, 1885 Unknown[d]
 
48th Unknown[b]
49thJames B. Beck
(1822–1890)		KentuckyMarch 4, 1885May 3, 1890[e] Unknown[b]
50th Unknown[b]
51st Unknown[b]
51stArthur Pue Gorman
(1839–1906)		MarylandMay 3, 1890April 29, 1898[f]
52nd Unknown[b]
53rd Himself 1893–1895
54th Unknown[b]
55th Unknown[b]
55thDavid Turpie
(1828–1909)		IndianaApril 29, 1898March 4, 1899
56thJames Kimbrough Jones
(1839–1908)		ArkansasDecember 1899March 4, 1903 Unknown[b]
57th Unknown[b]
58thArthur Pue Gorman
(1839–1906)		MarylandMarch 4, 1903June 4, 1906[e] Unknown[b]
59th Unknown[b]
Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn
(1838–1918)		KentuckyJune 4, 1906March 4, 1907
60thCharles Allen Culberson
(1855–1925)		TexasDecember 1907December 9, 1909[f] Unknown[b]
61st Unknown[b]
Hernando Money
(1839–1912)		MississippiDecember 9, 1909March 4, 1911
62ndThomas S. Martin
(1847–1919)		VirginiaApril 1911March 4, 1913 Unknown[b]
63rdJohn W. Kern
(1849–1917)		IndianaMarch 4, 1913March 4, 1917 Himself 1913–1917
64th
65thThomas S. Martin
(1847–1919)		VirginiaMarch 4, 1917November 12, 1919[e] Himself 1917–1919
66th Lodge 1919–1924
66thGilbert Hitchcock[g]
(1859–1934)		NebraskaNovember 12, 1919April 27, 1920
66thOscar Underwood
(1862–1929)		AlabamaApril 27, 1920December 3, 1923
67th
68th
68thJoseph Taylor Robinson
(1872–1937)		ArkansasDecember 3, 1923July 14, 1937[e] Curtis 1924–1929
69th
70th
71st Watson 1929–1933
72nd
73rd Himself 1933–1937
74th
75th
Alben W. Barkley
(1877–1956)		KentuckyJuly 14, 1937January 3, 1949[h] Himself 1937–1947
76th
77th
78th
79th
80th White 1947–1949
81stScott W. Lucas
(1892–1968)		IllinoisJanuary 3, 1949January 3, 1951 Himself 1949–1951
82ndErnest McFarland
(1894–1984)		ArizonaJanuary 3, 1951January 3, 1953 Himself 1951–1953
83rdLyndon B. Johnson
(1908–1973)		TexasJanuary 3, 1953January 3, 1961[h] Taft 1953
 Knowland 1953–1955
84th Himself 1955–1961
85th
86th
87thMike Mansfield
(1903–2001)		MontanaJanuary 3, 1961January 3, 1977 Himself 1961–1977
88th
89th
90th
91st
92nd
93rd
94th
95thRobert Byrd
(1917–2010)		West VirginiaJanuary 3, 1977January 3, 1989 Himself 1977–1981
96th
97th Baker 1981–1985
98th
99th Dole 1985–1987
100th Himself 1987–1989
101stGeorge J. Mitchell
(born 1933)		MaineJanuary 3, 1989January 3, 1995 Himself 1989–1995
102nd
103rd
104thTom Daschle
(born 1947)		South DakotaJanuary 3, 1995January 3, 2005 Dole 1995–1996
104th Lott 1996–2001
105th
106th
107th Himself 2001
 Lott 2001
 Himself 2001–2002
 Lott 2002–2003
108th Frist 2003–2007
109thHarry Reid
(1939–2021)		NevadaJanuary 3, 2005January 3, 2017
110th Himself 2007–2015
111th
112th
113th
114th McConnell 2015–2021
115thChuck Schumer
(born 1950)		New YorkJanuary 3, 2017Incumbent
116th
117th
 Himself 2021–2025
118th
119th Thune 2025–present

Notes

  1. ^ Concurrently serves as Chief Deputy Whip on Durbin’s Whip Operations Team.[2]
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Although the Senate Majority Leader for this Congress is unknown, the Republican Party had a majority.
  3. ^ Although the Senate Majority Leader for this Congress is unknown, the Democratic Party had a majority.
  4. ^ The Republican Party had a majority in the Senate for the first special Senate session of the 47th Congress from March to May 1881. Beginning with the second special Senate session in October 1881 and continuing until the end of the 47th Congress, the Senate was split between parties.
  5. ^ a b c d Died in office.
  6. ^ a b Resigned from office.
  7. ^ Acting chair.
  8. ^ a b Resigned to become Vice President of the United States.

Vice chairs

After the victory of Democrats in the midterm elections of 2006, an overwhelming majority in the conference wanted to reward Chuck Schumer, then the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, with a position in the leadership hierarchy.[citation needed] In response, then-Democratic Leader Harry Reid created the position of vice-chair when Democrats formally took control in 2007.[4] Schumer ascended to Reid’s position following his retirement after the 2016 elections. The position was then split, with one co-chair awarded to Mark Warner and the other awarded to Elizabeth Warren.

CongressVice Chair(s)StateTerm StartTerm End
110thJanuary 3, 2007January 3, 2017
111th
112th
113th
114th
115thJanuary 3, 2017present
116th
117th
118th
119th

Caucus secretary

The United States Senate Democratic Conference Secretary, also called the Caucus Secretary was previously considered the number-three position, behind the party’s floor leader and the party’s whip, until in 2006, when Democratic leader Harry Reid created the new position of Vice-Chairman of the caucus. Now, the secretary is the fourth-highest ranking position. The conference secretary is responsible for taking notes and aiding the party leadership when senators of the party meet or caucus together.[5]

The first conference secretary was Sen. Edward W. Carmack of Tennessee, who was elected in March 1903.[6]

The current conference secretary is Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who assumed the office in January 2017.

CongressSecretaryStateTerm StartTerm End
58thMarch 6, 1903March 3, 1907
59th
60thDecember 3, 1907[a]March 4, 1911
61st
62ndMarch 4, 1911March 4, 1913
63rdMarch 4, 1913March 3, 1915
64th
Willard Saulsbury Jr.
Delaware
March 3, 1915December 14, 1916
Key Pittman (Acting)
December 14, 1916March 3, 1917
65thMarch 4, 1917March 3, 1927
66th
67th
68th
69th
70thMarch 4, 1927January 3, 1937
71st
72nd
73rd
74th
75thJanuary 3, 1937January 3, 1943
76th
77th
78thConnecticutJanuary 3, 1943January 3, 1945
79thJanuary 3, 1945July 28, 1952
80th
81st
82nd
83rdJanuary 3, 1953January 3, 1959
84th
85th
86th
Thomas Hennings
Missouri
January 3, 1959September 13, 1960
September 3, 1960January 3, 1961
87th
George Smathers
Florida
January 3, 1961January 3, 1967
88th
89th
90thJanuary 3, 1967January 3, 1971
91st
92ndJanuary 3, 1971January 3, 1977
93rd
94th
95thJanuary 3, 1977January 3, 1989
96th
97th
98th
99th
100th
101stJanuary 3, 1989January 3, 1995
102nd
103rd
104thJanuary 3, 1995January 3, 2005
105th
106th
107th
108th
109thJanuary 3, 2005January 3, 2007
110thJanuary 3, 2007January 3, 2017
111th
112th
113th
114th
115thJanuary 3, 2017Incumbent
116th
117th
118th
119th

Deputy Caucus Secretary

On December 8, 2022, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii was elected to the newly created position of Deputy Caucus Secretary, assuming the office at the beginning of the 118th Congress on January 3, 2023.[7] This was an elevation from his previous leadership role as Senate Democratic Chief Deputy Whip. On January 3, 2025, Chris Murphy was also appointed to this position.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ The 60th Congress began on March 4, 1907; however Owen did not take office until the start of the 1st Session of the 60th Congress on December 2, 1907.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k “U.S. Senate: Leadership & Officers”. www.senate.gov. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
  2. ^ “Durbin Announces Senate Democratic Whip Operations For 119th Congress”. Dick Durbin United States Senator Illinois Newsroom. 2024-12-04. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  3. ^ a b “Rules for the Democratic Conference”. www.democrats.senate.gov. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
  4. ^ Bolton, Alexander (January 20, 2021). “Schumer becomes new Senate majority leader”. The Hill. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  5. ^ “Conference Secretaries”. U.S. Senate.
  6. ^ “Senate Democratic Caucus Organized”. U.S. Senate.
  7. ^ “Schumer reelected as Senate majority leader”. The Hill.
  8. ^ Hagen, Lisa (2024-12-03). “Chris Murphy to join Senate leadership ranks in next Congress”. CT Mirror. Retrieved 2025-01-25.

Bibliography

  • Donald A. Ritchie (ed) (1999). Minutes of the Senate Democratic Conference: Fifty-eighth through Eighty-eighth Congress, 1903-1964. Washington, D.C. GPO. Available online in PDF or text format.


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Democratic_Caucus