This is a complete list of United States senators during the 97th United States Congress listed by seniority from January 3, 1981, to January 3, 1983.

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.gov1971 U.S Census Report Contains 1970 census results.

In this congress, Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) was the most senior junior senator and Gordon J. Humphrey (R-New Hampshire) was the most junior senior senator.

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 1982 election) are listed at the end of the list with no number.

Terms of service

ClassTerms of service of senators that expired in yearsClass 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.Class 3Terms of service of senators that expired in 1987 (AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MS, NC, ND, NH, NM, NV, NY, OK, OR, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, and WY.)Terms of service of senators that expired in 1987.

U.S. Senate seniority list +U.S. Senate seniority Rank Senator (party-state) Seniority date Other factors 1 John C. Stennis (D-MS) November 17, 1947 2 Russell B. Long (D-LA) December 31, 1948 3 Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) January 3, 1953 4 Strom Thurmond (R-SC) November 7, 1956 5 William Proxmire (D-WI) August 28, 1957 6 Jennings Randolph (D-WV) November 5, 1958 7 Robert Byrd (D-WV) January 3, 1959 Former representative (6 years) 8 Harrison A. WilliamsSenator Williams resigned on March 11, 1982. (D-NJ) Former representative (4 years) 9 Howard Cannon (D-NV) 10 Quentin Northrup Burdick (D-ND) August 8, 1960 11 Claiborne Pell (D-RI) January 3, 1961 12 John Tower (R-TX) June 15, 1961 13 Ted Kennedy (D-MA) November 7, 1962 14 Daniel Inouye (D-HI) January 3, 1963 15 Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (I-VA) November 12, 1965 16 Ernest Hollings (D-SC) November 9, 1966 17 Charles H. Percy (R-IL) January 3, 1967 Illinois 4th in population (1960) 18 Howard Baker (R-TN) Tennessee 17th in population (1960) 19 Mark Hatfield (R-OR) January 10, 1967 20 Ted Stevens (R-AK) December 24, 1968 21 Thomas Eagleton (D-MO) December 28, 1968 22 Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) January 3, 1969 Previously a senator 23 Charles Mathias (R-MD) Former representative (8 years) - Maryland 21st in population (1960) 24 Bob Dole (R-KS) Former representative (8 years) - Kansas 29th in population (1960) 25 Alan Cranston (D-CA) California 2nd in population (1960) 26 Bob Packwood (R-OR) Oregon 32nd in population (1960) 27 Bill Roth (R-DE) January 1, 1971 28 Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) January 3, 1971 Former representative (6 years) 29 Lowell Weicker (R-CT) Former representative (2 years) 30 Lawton Chiles (D-FL) 31 Robert Stafford (R-VT) September 16, 1971 32 Sam Nunn (D-GA) November 8, 1972 33 Bennett Johnston Jr. (D-LA) November 14, 1972 34 James A. McClure (R-ID) January 3, 1973 Former representative 35 Jesse Helms (R-NC) North Carolina 12th in population (1970) 36 Walter Huddleston (D-KY) Kentucky 23rd in population (1970) 37 Pete Domenici (R-NM) New Mexico 37th in population (1970) 38 Joe Biden (D-DE) Delaware 46th in population (1970) 39 Paul Laxalt (R-NV) December 18, 1974 40 Jake Garn (R-UT) December 21, 1974 41 John Glenn (D-OH) December 24, 1974 42 Wendell H. Ford (D-KY) December 28, 1974 43 Dale Bumpers (D-AR) January 3, 1975 Former governor 44 Gary Hart (D-CO) Colorado 30th in population (1970) 45 Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Vermont 48th in population (1970) 46 John Danforth (R-MO) December 27, 1976 47 Edward Zorinsky (D-NE) December 28, 1976 48 Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) December 29, 1976 Previously a senator 49 John Chafee (R-RI) 50 Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI) December 30, 1976 51 Samuel Hayakawa (R-CA) January 2, 1977 52 Spark Matsunaga (D-HI) January 3, 1977 Former representative (14 years) 53 John Melcher (D-MT) Former representative (7 years, 7 months) 54 H. John Heinz III (R-PA) Former representative (6 years) 55 Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) Former representative (6 years) 56 Pat Moynihan (D-NY) New York 2nd in population (1970) 57 Richard Lugar (R-IN) Indiana 11th in population (1970) 58 Jim Sasser (D-TN) Tennessee 17th in population (1970) 59 Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) Arizona 33rd in population (1970) 60 Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Utah 36th in population (1970) 61 Harrison Schmitt (R-NM) New Mexico 37th in population (1970) 62 Malcolm Wallop (R-WY) Wyoming 49th in population (1970) 63 David Durenberger (R-MN) November 8, 1978 64 Max Baucus (D-MT) December 15, 1978 65 Nancy Kassebaum Baker (R-KS) December 23, 1978 66 Thad Cochran (R-MS) December 27, 1978 67 Rudy Boschwitz (R-MN) December 30, 1978 68 Alan K. Simpson (R-WY) January 1, 1979 69 John Warner (R-VA) January 2, 1979 70 David Pryor (D-AR) January 3, 1979 Former representative (6 years, 2 months) 71 William Cohen (R-ME) Former representative (6 years) 72 Paul Tsongas (D-MA) Former representative (4 years) - Massachusetts 10th in population (1970) 73 William L. Armstrong (R-CO) Former representative (4 years) - Colorado 30th in population (1970) 74 Larry Pressler (R-SD) Former representative (4 years) - South Dakota 44th in population (1970) 75 David L. Boren (D-OK) Former governor - Oklahoma 27th in population (1970) 76 J. James Exon (D-NE) Former governor - Nebraska 35th in population (1970) 77 Carl Levin (D-MI) Michigan 7th in population (1970) 78 Bill Bradley (D-NJ) New Jersey 8th in population (1970) 79 Howell Heflin (D-AL) Alabama 21st in population (1970) 80 Roger Jepsen (R-IA) Iowa 25th in population (1970) 81 Gordon J. Humphrey (R-NH) New Hampshire 41st in population (1970) 82 George J. Mitchell (D-ME) May 17, 1980 83 Warren Rudman (R-NH) December 31, 1980 84 Paula Hawkins (R-FL) January 1, 1981 85 Jeremiah Denton (R-AL) January 2, 1981 86 Mark Andrews (R-ND) January 3, 1981 Former representative (16 years) 87 Steve Symms (R-ID) Former representative (12 years) 88 James Abdnor (R-SD) Former representative (8 years) 89 Chris Dodd (D-CT) Former representative (6 years) - Connecticut 24th in population (1970) 90 Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Former representative (6 years) - Iowa 25th in population (1970) 91 Dan Quayle (R-IN) Former representative (4 years) - Indiana 11th in population (1970) 92 Bob Kasten (R-WI) Former representative (4 years) - Wisconsin 16th in population (1970) 93 Al D'Amato (R-NY) New York 2nd in population (1970) 94 Arlen Specter (R-PA) Pennsylvania 3rd in population (1970) 95 Alan J. Dixon (D-IL) Illinois 5th in population (1970) 96 John Porter East (R-NC) North Carolina 12th in population (1970) 97 Mack Mattingly (R-GA) Georgia 15th in population (1970) 98 Slade Gorton (R-WA) Washington 22nd in population (1970) 99 Don Nickles (R-OK) Oklahoma 27th in population (1970) 100 Frank Murkowski (R-AK) Alaska 50th in population (1970) Nicholas F. Brady (R-NJ) April 20, 1982 Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) December 27, 1982

The most senior senators by class were John C. Stennis (D-Mississippi) from Class 1, Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) from Class 2, and Russell B. Long (D-Louisiana) from Class 3.

See also 97th United States Congress List of United States representatives in the 97th Congress

Notes

External links Senate Seniority List