This is a complete list of United States senators during the 96th United States Congress listed by seniority from January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1981.

Order of service is based on the commencement of the senator's first term. Behind this is former service as a senator (only giving the senator seniority within their new incoming class), service as vice president, a House member, a cabinet secretary, or a governor of a state. The final factor is the population of the senator's state.A Chronological List of United States Senators 1789-Present, via www.Senate.gov1961 U.S Census Report Contains 1960 census results.1971 U.S Census Report Contains 1970 census results.

In this congress, Henry M. Jackson was the most senior junior senator and Donald W. Stewart was the most junior senior senator until May 7, 1980 when Edmund Muskie resigned to become Secretary of State. William Cohen was the most junior senior senator from that date until John Durkin resigned on December 29, 1980, after which it was Gordon Humphrey.

Senators who were sworn in during the middle of the two-year congressional term (up until the last senator who was not sworn in early after winning the November 1980 election) are listed at the end of the list with no number.

Terms of service

ClassTerms of service of senators that expired in yearsClass 3Terms of service of senators that expired in 1981 (AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MO, NC, ND, NH, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, UT, VT, WA, and WI.)Terms of service of senators that expired in 1981.Class 1Terms of service of senators that expired in 1983 (AZ, CA, CT, DE, FL, HI, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, and WY.)Terms of service of senators that expired in 1983.Class 2Terms of service of senators that expired in 1985 (AK, AL, AR, CO, DE, GA, IA, ID, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MS, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WV, and WY.)Terms of service of senators that expired in 1985.

U.S. Senate seniority list +U.S. Senate seniority Rank Senator (party-state) Seniority date Other factors 1 Warren G. Magnuson (D-WA) December 14, 1944 2 Milton Young (R-ND) March 12, 1945 3 John C. Stennis (D-MS) November 17, 1947 4 Russell B. Long (D-LA) December 31, 1948 5 Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) January 3, 1953 6 Strom Thurmond (R-SC) November 7, 1956 7 Herman Talmadge (D-GA) January 3, 1957 Former governor 8 Frank Church (D-ID) 9 Jacob K. Javits (R-NY) January 9, 1957 10 William Proxmire (D-WI) August 28, 1957 11 Jennings Randolph (D-WV) November 5, 1958 12 Robert Byrd (D-WV) January 3, 1959 Former representative (6 years) 13 Harrison A. Williams (D-NJ) Former representative (4 years) 14 Edmund MuskieSenator Muskie stepped down on May 7, 1980 to become secretary of state. (D-ME) Former governor 15 Howard Cannon (D-NV) 16 Quentin Northrup Burdick (D-ND) August 8, 1960 17 Claiborne Pell (D-RI) January 3, 1961 18 John Tower (R-TX) June 15, 1961 19 Ted Kennedy (D-MA) November 7, 1962 20 Abraham A. Ribicoff (D-CT) January 3, 1963 Former representative (4 years) - Former cabinet secretary 21 George McGovern (D-SD) Former representative (4 years) - South Dakota 40th in population (1960) 22 Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Former representative (4 years) - Hawaii 43rd in population (1960) 23 Birch Bayh (D-IN) 24 Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) January 7, 1963 25Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (I-VA) November 12, 1965 26 Ernest Hollings (D-SC) November 9, 1966 27 Charles H. Percy (R-IL) January 3, 1967 Illinois 4th in population (1960) 28 Howard Baker (R-TN) Tennessee 17th in population (1960) 29 Mark Hatfield (R-OR) January 10, 1967 30 Ted Stevens (R-AK) December 24, 1968 31 Thomas Eagleton (D-MO) December 28, 1968 32 Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) January 3, 1969 Previously a senator 33 Richard Schweiker (R-PA) Former representative (8 years) - Pennsylvania 3rd in population (1960) 34 Charles Mathias (R-MD) Former representative (8 years) - Maryland 21st in population (1960) 35 Bob Dole (R-KS) Former representative (8 years) - Kansas 29th in population (1960) 36 Henry Bellmon (R-OK) Former governor 37 Alan Cranston (D-CA) California 2nd in population (1960) 38 Bob Packwood (R-OR) Oregon 32nd in population (1960) 39 Mike Gravel (D-AK) Alaska 50th in population (1960) 40 Adlai Stevenson III (D-IL) November 17, 1970 41 Bill Roth (R-DE) January 1, 1971 42 Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) January 3, 1971 Former representative (6 years) 43 Lowell Weicker (R-CT) Former representative (2 years) 44 Lawton Chiles (D-FL) 45 Robert Stafford (R-VT) September 16, 1971 46 Sam Nunn (D-GA) November 8, 1972 47 Bennett Johnston Jr. (D-LA) November 14, 1972 48 James A. McClure (R-ID) January 3, 1973 Former representative 49 Jesse Helms (R-NC) North Carolina 12th in population (1970) 50 Walter Huddleston (D-KY) Kentucky 23rd in population (1970) 51 Pete Domenici (R-NM) New Mexico 37th in population (1970) 52 Joe Biden (D-DE) Delaware 46th in population (1970) 53 Paul Laxalt (R-NV) December 18, 1974 54 Jake Garn (R-UT) December 21, 1974 55 John Glenn (D-OH) December 24, 1974 56 Wendell H. Ford (D-KY) December 28, 1974 57 Richard Stone (D-FL) January 1, 1975 58 John Culver (D-IA) January 3, 1975 Former representative 59 Dale Bumpers (D-AR) Former governor 60 Robert Burren Morgan (D-NC) North Carolina 12th in population (1970) 61 Gary Hart (D-CO) Colorado 30th in population (1970) 62 Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Vermont 48th in population (1970) 63 John Durkin (D-NH) September 18, 1975 64 John Danforth (R-MO) December 27, 1976 65 Edward Zorinsky (D-NE) December 28, 1976 66 Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) December 29, 1976 Previously a senator 67 John Chafee (R-RI) 68 Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI) December 30, 1976 69 Samuel Hayakawa (R-CA) January 2, 1977 70 Spark Matsunaga (D-HI) January 3, 1977 Former representative (14 years) 71 John Melcher (D-MT) Former representative (7 years, 7 months) 72 H. John Heinz III (R-PA) Former representative (6 years) 73 Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) Former representative (6 years) 74 Pat Moynihan (D-NY) New York 2nd in population (1970) 75 Richard Lugar (R-IN) Indiana 11th in population (1970) 76 Jim Sasser (D-TN) Tennessee 17th in population (1970) 77 Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) Arizona 33rd in population (1970) 78 Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Utah 36th in population (1970) 79 Harrison Schmitt (R-NM) New Mexico 37th in population (1970) 80 Malcolm Wallop (R-WY) Wyoming 29th in population (1970) 81 David Durenberger (R-MN) November 8, 1978 Minnesota 19th in population (1970) 82 Donald W. Stewart (D-AL) Alabama 21st in population (1970) 83 Max Baucus (D-MT) December 15, 1978 84 Nancy Kassebaum Baker (R-KS) December 23, 1978 85 Thad Cochran (R-MS) December 27, 1978 86 Rudy Boschwitz (R-MN) December 30, 1978 87 Alan K. Simpson (R-WY) January 1, 1979 88 John Warner (R-VA) January 2, 1979 89 David Pryor (D-AR) January 3, 1979 Former representative (6 years, 2 months) 90 William Cohen (R-ME) Former representative (6 years) 91 Paul Tsongas (D-MA) Former representative (4 years) - Massachusetts 10th in population (1970) 92 William L. Armstrong (R-CO) Former representative (4 years) - Colorado 30th in population (1970) 93 Larry Pressler (R-SD) Former representative (4 years) - South Dakota 44th in population (1970) 94 David L. Boren (D-OK) Former governor - Oklahoma 27th in population (1970) 95 J. James Exon (D-NE) Former governor - Nebraska 35th in population (1970) 96 Carl Levin (D-MI) Michigan 7th in population (1970) 97 Bill Bradley (D-NJ) New Jersey 8th in population (1970) 98 Howell Heflin (D-AL) Alabama 21st in population (1970) 99 Roger Jepsen (R-IA) Iowa 25th in population (1970) 100 Gordon J. Humphrey (R-NH) New Hampshire 41st in population (1970) George J. Mitchell (D-ME) May 17, 1980 Warren Rudman (R-NH) December 31, 1980 Paula Hawkins (R-FL) January 1, 1981 Jeremiah Denton (R-AL) January 2, 1981

The most senior senators by class were John C. Stennis (D-Mississippi) from Class 1, Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) from Class 2, and Warren G. Magnuson (D-Washington) from Class 3.

See also 96th United States Congress List of United States representatives in the 96th Congress

Notes

External links Senate Seniority List