Longest Serving Senators

Good list. Do you have a list of longest serving, currently serving senators?

Looks like most of them were/are Democrat Party members .... and the majority are fairly recent ...

Serving? Should that be reigning?

Precisely!!! There should be term limits. By the time they have that many years in, they are senile.

Time for some retirements!

I’m sure they would like to retire but the people’s work is just too important.

The dead vote and serve the DNC.

Many of them are senile when first voted in.

The longest serving Senator chart should end at twelve years.

“Many of them are senile when first voted in”

LOL!!

Byrd, Kennedy, Inouye, Stevens.

That’s only the Senate service, it’s not counting the other House, legislative, and Gubernatorial service of some of those members. When you add that in, the amount of service jumps, and to nearly-jaw dropping proportions !

I rearranged the rankings to show overall service:

(New) #1 (Old) #1 Robert C. Byrd(D-WV) January 3, 1959 to present 48 years

(+6 years in the House: 1953-59) = 54 years, 5 months (add in 6 more years in the WV legislature: 1947-53, and he’s been in continuous office for 60 years and 5 months).

(New) #2 (Old) #5 Carl T. Hayden (D-AZ) March 4, 1927 to January 3, 1969 41 years, 10.1 months

(add 15 years, 2 weeks in the House (1st House member from AZ), 1912-27 = 56 years, 10.3 months, longest serving member of Congress in both Houses combined)

(New) #3 (Old) #2 Strom Thurmond (R-SC) December 24, 1954 to April 4, 1956 and November 7, 1956 to January 3, 2003 47 years, 5.2 months

(no House service, 5 years in SC State Senate: 1933-38, 4 years as Governor, 1947-51 = 56 years, 5.2 months)

(New & Old) #4 Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) January 3, 1963-present 44 years

(add 3 1/2 years in the House (1st House member from HI), 1959-63; and 5 1/2 years in the HI legislature, 1954-59 = 53 years, 5 months)

(New) #5 (Old) #11 Francis E. Warren (R-WY) November 18, 1890 to March 3, 1893 and March 4, 1895 to November 24, 1929 37 years

(+4 years in the WY Terr Senate, 1873-75; 1884-86; 8 years as WY Treasurer, 1876-84; 1 year as Cheyenne Mayor, 1885; 3 years, 5 months as Governor, 1885-86; 1889-90 = 53 years, 5 months)

(New) #6 (Old) #7 Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC)
November 9, 1966 to January 3, 2005
38 years, 1.8 months

(+6 years in the SC House, 1949-55; 4 years as Lt Gov, 1955-59; 4 years as Governor, 1959-63 = 52 years, 1.8 months)

(New) #7 (Old) #9 Richard B. Russell (D-GA)
January 12, 1933 to January 21, 1971
38 years

(+10 years in the GA House, 1921-31; 2 years as Governor, 1931-33 = 50 years)

(New) #8 (Old) #16 Milton Young (R-ND) March 12, 1945 to January 2, 1981
35 years, 9 months

(+12 years in the ND legislature, 1933-45 = 48 years)

(New) #9 (Old) #18 Allen J. Ellender (D-LA) January 3, 1937 to July 27, 1972
35 years, 7 months

(+12 years in the LA House, 1924-36 = 47 years, 7 months)

(New) #10 (Old) #13 Warren Magnuson (D-WA) December 14, 1944 to January 2, 1981
36 years

(+2 years in WA House, 1933-35; +7 years, 11 months in the U.S. House, 1937-12/1944 = 45 years, 11 months)

(New) #11 (Old) #6 John C. Stennis (D-MS)

November 5, 1947 to January 3, 1989
41 years, 2 months

(+4 years in the MS House, 1928-32 = 45 years, 2 months)

(New) #12 (Old) #3 Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) November 7, 1962 to present 44 years, 2 months

(no additional service)

(New) #13 (Old) #19 William B. Allison (R-IA) March 4, 1873 to August 4, 1908
35 years, 5 months

(+8 years in the U.S. House, 1863-71; 43 years, 5 months)

(New) #14 (Old) #8 Theodore F. Stevens (R-AK)

December 24, 1968 to present
38 years

(+4 years in the AK House, 1964-68= 42 years, 5 months)

(New & Old) #15 Kenneth McKellar (D-TN) March 4, 1917 to January 2, 1953
35 years, 10 months

(+5 years, 3 months in the US House, 1911-17 = 41 years, 1 month)

(New) #16 (Old) #12 James O. Eastland (D-MS) June 30, 1941 to September 28, 1941 and January 3, 1943 to December 27, 1978
36 years, 3 months

(+4 years in the MS House, 1928-32 = 40 years, 3 months)

(New & Old) #17 Ellison D. Smith (D-SC) March 4, 1909 to November 17, 1944
35 years, 8 months

(+4 years in the SC Senate, 1896-1900 = 39 years, 8 months)

(New) #18 (Old) #20 John McClellan (D-AR) January 3, 1943 to November 28, 1977
34 years, 11 months

(+4 years in the U.S. House, 1935-39 = 38 years, 11 months)

(New) #19 (Old) #10 Russell B. Long (D-LA)

December 31, 1948 to January 3, 1987
38 years

(no additional service)

(New) #20 (Old) #14 Claiborne Pell (D-RI) January 3, 1961 to January 3, 1997
36 years

(no additional service)

You should delete Kennedy. The only thing he’s ever ‘served’ is drinks from the bar.