Senate Republican Conference

The Senate Republican Conference is the formal organization of the (currently) 55 Republican Senators in the United States Senate. Over the last century, the mission of the Conference has expanded and been shaped as a means of informing the media of the opinions and activities of Senate Republicans. Today the Senate Republican Conference assists Republican Senators by providing a full range of communications services including graphics, radio, television, and the Internet. Its current chairman is Senator Rick Santorum.

List of conference chairpersons

• John P. Hale (NH) 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 ¹
• James E. Watson (IN) Term: 1929-1933 (Also served as Republican floor leader)
• Charles L. McNary (OR) Term: 1933-1944 (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-present

Notes

1 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, Jr. became Republican party floor leader. The positions have remained separated.

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