Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate

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The Assistant Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate (commonly called Senate Majority and Minority Whips) are the second-ranking members of the party leadership of the United States Senate.

The main function of the Majority and Minority Whips is to gather votes on major issues. Because he or she is the second ranking member of the Senate, if there is no floor leader present, the whip may become acting floor leader.

Before 1969, the official titles were Majority Whip and Minority Whip.

The current Assistant Majority Leader is Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois.

The current Assistant Minority Leader is Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona.

List of assistant leaders

Congresses	Dates	Democratic Whip	Majority	Republican Whip
63rd	1913 – 1915	J. Hamilton Lewis	← D Maj	None
64th	1915			James Wadsworth, Jr.
64th – 65th	1915 – 1919			Charles Curtis
66th – 68th	1919 – 1924	Peter Gerry	R Maj →
68th – 70th	1924 – 1929			Wesley Jones
71st – 72nd	1929 – 1933	Morris Sheppard		Simeon Fess
73rd	1933 – 1935	J. Hamilton Lewis	← D Maj	Felix Hebert
74th – 75th	1935 – 1939			None[1]
76th	1939 – 1941	Sherman Minton
77th – 78th	1941 – 1944	Lister Hill
78th – 79th	1944 – 1947			Kenneth Wherry
80th	1947 – 1949	Scott Lucas	R Maj →
81st	1949 – 1951	Francis Myers	← D Maj	Leverett Saltonstall
82nd	1951 – 1953	Lyndon Johnson
83rd	1953 – 1955	Earle Clements	R Maj →
84th	1955 – 1957		← D Maj
85th	1957 – 1959	Mike Mansfield		Everett Dirksen
86th	1959 – 1961			Thomas Kuchel
87th – 88th	1961 – 1965	Hubert Humphrey
89th – 90th	1965 – 1969	Russell Long
91st	1969	Ted Kennedy		Hugh Scott
91st	September 7, 1969 – 1971			Robert Griffin
92nd – 94th	1971 – 1977	Robert Byrd
95th – 96th	1977 – 1981	Alan Cranston		Ted Stevens
97th – 98th	1981 – 1985		R Maj →
99th	1985 – 1987			Alan Simpson
100th – 101st	1987 – 1991		← D Maj
102nd – 103rd	1991 – 1995	Wendell Ford
104th	1995 – June 12, 1996		R Maj →	Trent Lott
	June 12, 1996 – 1997			Don Nickles
105th	1997 – 1999
106th	1999 – 2001	Harry Reid
107th	January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001		← D Maj
	January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001		R Maj →
	June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003		← D Maj
108th	2003 – 2005		R Maj →	Mitch McConnell
109th	2005 – 2007	Richard Durbin
110th	January 3, 2007 – December 18, 2007		← D Maj	Trent Lott
	December 19, 2007 – January 3, 2009			Jon Kyl
111th	January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011
112th	January 3, 2011 – Present
Congress(es)	Dates	Democratic Whip	Majority	Republican Whip

Notes

1. ^ No Republican whips were appointed from 1935 to 1944 since only 17 Republicans were in the Senate following the landslide reelection of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. Accordingly, the minutes of the Republican Conference for the period state: "On motion of Senator Hastings, duly seconded and carried, it was agreed that no Assistant Leader or Whip be elected but that the chairman be authorized to appoint Senators from time to time to assist him in taking charge of the interests of the minority." A note attached to the conference minutes added: "The chairman of the conference, Senator McNary, apparently appointed Senator Austin of Vermont as assistant leader in 1943 and 1944, until the conference adopted Rules of Organization." Source: Party Whips, via Senate.gov