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List of longest-serving members of the United States Congress

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Summary

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[[United States Capitol]] (2016), meeting place of the [[United States Congress

This list of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service includes representatives and senators who have served for at least 36 years, in the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, or both. In cases where there is a tie in time, the following criteria will sort people higher:

Achieved time uninterrupted (for total tenure ranks)
Achieved time first
Senators over representatives (for Senate and House lists)
Senate and House seniority

Key

	Interruptions in service (for total tenure categories)

Combined U.S. Senate and U.S. House time

Total tenure	Uninterrupted	Name	Party affiliation	State	Reason for leaving	Lifespan
1	59 years, 21 days	1	59 years, 21 days	John Dingell (H)	Democratic	Michigan
2	57 years, 176 days	2	57 years, 176 days	Robert Byrd (S, H)	Democratic	West Virginia
3	56 years, 319 days	3	56 years, 319 days	Carl Hayden (S, H)	Democratic	Arizona
4	53 years, 118 days	4	53 years, 118 days	Daniel Inouye (S, H)	Democratic	Hawaii
5	53 years, 60 days	5	53 years, 60 days	Jamie Whitten (H)	Democratic	Mississippi
6	52 years, 336 days	6	52 years, 336 days	John Conyers (H)	Democratic	Michigan
7		7		Chuck Grassley (S, H)	Republican	Iowa
8	50 years, 61 days	8	50 years, 61 days	Carl Vinson (H)	Democratic	Georgia
9	49 years, 305 days	9	49 years, 305 days	Emanuel Celler (H)	Democratic	New York
10		10		Ed Markey (S, H)	Democratic	Massachusetts
11	49 years, 12 days	11	49 years, 12 days	Don Young (H)	Republican	Alaska
12	48 years, 257 days	12	48 years, 257 days	Sam Rayburn (H)	Democratic	Texas
13	48 years, 0 days	13	48 years, 0 days	Patrick Leahy (S)	Democratic	Vermont
14	48 years, 0 days	999	N/A	Sidney R. Yates (H, I)	Democratic	Illinois
15	47 years, 159 days	16	46 years, 57 days	Strom Thurmond (S, I)	Democratic,
Republican	South Carolina
16	47 years, 3 days	14	47 years, 3 days	Wright Patman (H)	Democratic	Texas
17	46 years, 292 days	15	46 years, 292 days	Ted Kennedy (S)	Democratic	Massachusetts
18	46 years, 0 days	17	46 years, 0 days	Charles Rangel (H)	Democratic	New York
19	46 years, 0 days	999	N/A	Joseph Gurney Cannon (H, I)	Republican	Illinois
20	45 years, 247 days	18	45 years, 247 days	Adolph J. Sabath (H)	Democratic	Illinois
21	45 years, 142 days	19	45 years, 142 days	J. Lister Hill (S, H)	Democratic	Alabama
22	45 years, 87 days	20	45 years, 87 days	Thad Cochran (S, H)	Republican	Mississippi
23		21		Ron Wyden (S, H)	Democratic	Oregon
24		22		Chuck Schumer (S, H)	Democratic	New York
25		23		Hal Rogers (H)	Republican	Kentucky
26		24		Chris Smith (H)	Republican	New Jersey
27		29		Steny Hoyer (H)	Democratic	Maryland
28	44 years, 0 days	25	44 years, 0 days	George H. Mahon (H)	Democratic	Texas
29	44 years, 0 days	26	44 years, 0 days	Warren Magnuson (S, H)	Democratic	Washington
30	44 years, 0 days	27	44 years, 0 days	Charles E. Bennett (H)	Democratic	Florida
31	44 years, 0 days	28	44 years, 0 days	Richard Shelby (S, H)	Democratic,
Republican	Alabama
32	43 years, 299 days	30	43 years, 299 days	Justin S. Morrill (S, H)	Whig,
Republican	Vermont
33	43 years, 152 days	999	N/A	William B. Allison (S, H, I)	Republican	Iowa
34	43 years, 110 days	31	43 years, 110 days	Melvin Price (H)	Democratic	Illinois
35		32		Dick Durbin (S, H)	Democratic	Illinois
36		33		Marcy Kaptur (H)	Democratic	Ohio
37	42 years, 288 days	34	42 years, 288 days	Bill Young (H)	Republican	Florida
38	42 years, 241 days	35	42 years, 241 days	Henry M. Jackson (S, H)	Democratic	Washington
39	42 years, 157 days	999	N/A	Carter Glass (S, H, I)	Democratic	Virginia
40	42 years, 58 days	36	42 years, 58 days	John W. McCormack (H)	Democratic	Massachusetts
41	42 years, 0 days	37	42 years, 0 days	John Sparkman (S, H)	Democratic	Alabama
42	42 years, 0 days	38	42 years, 0 days	Jack Brooks (H)	Democratic	Texas
43	42 years, 0 days	39	42 years, 0 days	Orrin Hatch (S)	Republican	Utah
44	42 years, 0 days	40	42 years, 0 days	Jim Sensenbrenner (H)	Republican	Wisconsin
45	41 years, 362 days	41	41 years, 362 days	William R. Poage (H)	Democratic	Texas
46	41 years, 305 days	42	41 years, 305 days	Robert L. Doughton (H)	Democratic	North Carolina
47	41 years, 305 days	43	41 years, 305 days	Joseph W. Martin Jr. (H)	Republican	Massachusetts
48	41 years, 276 days	44	41 years, 276 days	Dave Obey (H)	Democratic	Wisconsin
49	41 years, 69 days	45	41 years, 69 days	Clarence Cannon (H)	Democratic	Missouri
50	41 years, 59 days	46	41 years, 59 days	John C. Stennis (S)	Democratic	Mississippi
51	41 years, 30 days	47	41 years, 30 days	Kenneth McKellar (S, H)	Democratic	Tennessee
52		48		Mitch McConnell (S)	Republican	Kentucky
53	40 years, 240 days	49	40 years, 240 days	William Natcher (H)	Democratic	Kentucky
54	40 years, 207 days	999	N/A	Claude Pepper (S, H, I)	Democratic	Florida
55	40 years, 157 days	50	40 years, 157 days	William P. Frye (S, H)	Republican	Maine
56	40 years, 10 days	51	40 years, 10 days	Ted Stevens (S)	Republican	Alaska
57	40 years, 0 days	52	40 years, 0 days	Carl Curtis (S, H)	Republican	Nebraska
58	40 years, 0 days	53	40 years, 0 days	Peter W. Rodino (H)	Democratic	New Jersey
59	40 years, 0 days	54	40 years, 0 days	Pete Stark (H)	Democratic	California
60	40 years, 0 days	55	40 years, 0 days	Tom Harkin (S, H)	Democratic	Iowa
61	40 years, 0 days	56	40 years, 0 days	George Miller (H)	Democratic	California
62	40 years, 0 days	57	40 years, 0 days	Henry Waxman (H)	Democratic	California
63	40 years, 0 days	58	40 years, 0 days	Barbara Mikulski (S, H)	Democratic	Maryland
64	40 years, 0 days	59	40 years, 0 days	Pat Roberts (S, H)	Republican	Kansas
65	40 years, 0 days	999	N/A	Eugene Hale (S, H, I)	Republican	Maine
66	39 years, 364 days	999	N/A	Jennings Randolph (S, H, I)	Democratic	West Virginia
67	39 years, 362 days	60	39 years, 362 days	Leslie C. Arends (H)	Republican	Illinois
68	39 years, 352 days	61	39 years, 352 days	Daniel A. Reed (H)	Republican	New York
69	39 years, 305 days	62	39 years, 305 days	George W. Norris (S, H)	Republican,
Independent	Nebraska
70	39 years, 305 days	63	39 years, 305 days	John Taber (H)	Republican	New York
71	39 years, 305 days	64	39 years, 305 days	William M. Colmer (H)	Democratic	Mississippi
72	39 years, 34 days	65	39 years, 34 days	Max Baucus (S, H)	Democratic	Montana
73	39 years, 9 days	999	N/A	Samuel Smith (S, H, I)	Democratic-Republican,
Democratic	Maryland
74	38 years, 329 days	999	N/A	John L. McClellan (S, H, I)	Democratic	Arkansas
75		66		Nancy Pelosi (H)	Democratic	California
76	38 years, 145 days	67	38 years, 145 days	Morris Sheppard (S, H)	Democratic	Texas
77	38 years, 55 days	68	38 years, 55 days	Fritz Hollings (S)	Democratic	South Carolina
78	38 years, 9 days	69	38 years, 9 days	Richard Russell Jr. (S)	Democratic	Georgia
79	38 years, 4 days	999	N/A	John Sherman (S, H, I)	Opposition,
Republican	Ohio
80	38 years, 3 days	70	38 years, 3 days	Russell B. Long (S)	Democratic	Louisiana
81	38 years, 0 days	71	38 years, 0 days	Frederick H. Gillett (S, H)	Republican	Massachusetts
82	38 years, 0 days	72	38 years, 0 days	Wilbur Mills (H)	Democratic	Arkansas
83	38 years, 0 days	73	38 years, 0 days	Dante Fascell (H)	Democratic	Florida
84	38 years, 0 days	74	38 years, 0 days	Robert H. Michel (H)	Republican	Illinois
85	38 years, 0 days	75	38 years, 0 days	Nick Rahall (H)	Democratic	West Virginia
86	38 years, 0 days	76	38 years, 0 days	Ben Cardin (S, H)	Democratic	Maryland
87	37 years, 305 days	999	N/A	Robert Crosser (H, I)	Democratic	Ohio
88	37 years, 290 days	999	N/A	Bob Sikes (H, I)	Democratic	Florida
89	37 years, 255 days	77	37 years, 255 days	Nathaniel Macon (S, H)	Anti-Administration,
Democratic-Republican	North Carolina
90	37 years, 250 days	78	37 years, 250 days	Henry Cabot Lodge (S, H)	Republican	Massachusetts
91		79		Frank Pallone (H)	Democratic	New Jersey
92	37 years, 74 days	999	N/A	Alben W. Barkley (S, H, I)	Democratic	Kentucky
93	37 years, 60 days	80	37 years, 60 days	Henry B. González (H)	Democratic	Texas
94		81		Richard Neal (H)	Democratic	Massachusetts
95	37 years, 6 days	999	N/A	Francis E. Warren (S, I)	Republican	Wyoming
96	36 years, 83 days	999	N/A	James Eastland (S, I)	Democratic	Mississippi
97	36 years, 12 days	82	36 years, 12 days	Joe Biden (S)	Democratic	Delaware
98	36 years, 3 days	83	36 years, 3 days	John Murtha (H)	Democratic	Pennsylvania
99	36 years, 0 days	84	36 years, 0 days	Henry L. Dawes (S, H)	Republican	Massachusetts
100	36 years, 0 days	85	36 years, 0 days	F. Edward Hébert (H)	Democratic	Louisiana
101	36 years, 0 days	86	36 years, 0 days	Edward Boland (H)	Democratic	Massachusetts
102	36 years, 0 days	87	36 years, 0 days	William Broomfield (H)	Republican	Michigan
103	36 years, 0 days	88	36 years, 0 days	Dan Rostenkowski (H)	Democratic	Illinois
104	36 years, 0 days	89	36 years, 0 days	Neal Smith (H)	Democratic	Iowa
105	36 years, 0 days	90	36 years, 0 days	Claiborne Pell (S)	Democratic	Rhode Island
106	36 years, 0 days	91	36 years, 0 days	Joseph M. McDade (H)	Republican	Pennsylvania
107	36 years, 0 days	92	36 years, 0 days	Paul Sarbanes (S, H)	Democratic	Maryland
108	36 years, 0 days	93	36 years, 0 days	Pete Domenici (S)	Republican	New Mexico
109	36 years, 0 days	94	36 years, 0 days	Ralph Regula (H)	Republican	Ohio
110	36 years, 0 days	95	36 years, 0 days	Chris Dodd (S, H)	Democratic	Connecticut
111	36 years, 0 days	96	36 years, 0 days	Jim Oberstar (H)	Democratic–Farmer–Labor	Minnesota
112	36 years, 0 days	97	36 years, 0 days	Richard Lugar (S)	Republican	Indiana
113	36 years, 0 days	98	36 years, 0 days	Daniel Akaka (S, H)	Democratic	Hawaii
114	36 years, 0 days	99	36 years, 0 days	Norm Dicks (H)	Democratic	Washington
115	36 years, 0 days	100	36 years, 0 days	Dale Kildee (H)	Democratic	Michigan
116	36 years, 0 days	101	36 years, 0 days	Carl Levin (S)	Democratic	Michigan
117	36 years, 0 days	102	36 years, 0 days	Sander Levin (H)	Democratic	Michigan
118	36 years, 0 days	103	36 years, 0 days	Pete Visclosky (H)	Democratic	Indiana
119	36 years, 0 days	104	36 years, 0 days	Jim Inhofe (S, H)	Republican	Oklahoma
120	36 years, 0 days	105	36 years, 0 days	Peter DeFazio (H)	Democratic	Oregon
121	36 years, 0 days	106	36 years, 0 days	Fred Upton (H)	Republican	Michigan
122	36 years, 0 days	999	N/A	Shelby M. Cullom (S, H, I)	Republican	Illinois

U.S. Senate time

The 90th Congress was notable because for a period of 10 days (December 24, 1968 – January 3, 1969), it contained within the Senate, all 10 of what was at one point the top 10 longest-serving senators in history (Byrd, Inouye, Thurmond, Kennedy, Hayden, Stennis, Stevens, Hollings, Russell Jr., and Long) until January 7, 2013, when Patrick Leahy surpassed Russell B. Long as the 10th longest-serving senator in history. This short 10-day period stretched from the appointment of Ted Stevens of Alaska to fill a vacancy, to the retirement of Carl Hayden of Arizona early the next year. The 107th Congress (2001–2003) was the most recent one to contain the top 7 longest serving senators in history (Byrd, Inouye, Leahy, Thurmond, Kennedy, Grassley, and Hatch).

The 99th Congress (1985–1987) and the 100th Congress (1987–1989) were the periods in which most people from this list were serving together (all but Hayden, Russell Jr., Warren, Eastland, Magnuson, and Shelby in the former and all but Hayden, Russell Jr., Long, Warren, Eastland, and Magnuson in the latter).

Total tenure	Uninterrupted	Name	Party affiliation	State	Dates of service	Lifespan
1	51 years, 176 days	1	51 years, 176 days	Robert Byrd	Democratic	West Virginia
2	49 years, 349 days	2	49 years, 349 days	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Hawaii
3	48 years, 0 days	3	48 years, 0 days	Patrick Leahy	Democratic	Vermont
4	47 years, 159 days	5	46 years, 57 days	Strom Thurmond (I)	Democratic,
Republican	South Carolina
5	46 years, 292 days	4	46 years, 292 days	Ted Kennedy	Democratic	Massachusetts
6		6		Chuck Grassley	Republican	Iowa
7	42 years, 0 days	7	42 years, 0 days	Orrin Hatch	Republican	Utah
8	41 years, 305 days	8	41 years, 305 days	Carl Hayden	Democratic	Arizona
9	41 years, 59 days	9	41 years, 59 days	John C. Stennis	Democratic	Mississippi
10		10		Mitch McConnell	Republican	Kentucky
11	40 years, 10 days	11	40 years, 10 days	Ted Stevens	Republican	Alaska
12	39 years, 94 days	12	39 years, 94 days	Thad Cochran	Republican	Mississippi
13	38 years, 55 days	13	38 years, 55 days	Fritz Hollings	Democratic	South Carolina
14	38 years, 9 days	14	38 years, 9 days	Richard Russell Jr.	Democratic	Georgia
15	38 years, 3 days	15	38 years, 3 days	Russell B. Long	Democratic	Louisiana
16	37 years, 6 days	999	N/A	Francis E. Warren (I)	Republican	Wyoming
17	36 years, 83 days	999	N/A	James Eastland (I)	Democratic	Mississippi
18	36 years, 20 days	16	36 years, 20 days	Warren Magnuson	Democratic	Washington
19	36 years, 12 days	17	36 years, 12 days	Joe Biden	Democratic	Delaware
20	36 years, 0 days	18	36 years, 0 days	Claiborne Pell	Democratic	Rhode Island
21	36 years, 0 days	19	36 years, 0 days	Pete Domenici	Republican	New Mexico
22	36 years, 0 days	20	36 years, 0 days	Richard Lugar	Republican	Indiana
23	36 years, 0 days	21	36 years, 0 days	Carl Levin	Democratic	Michigan
24	36 years, 0 days	22	36 years, 0 days	Richard Shelby	Democratic,
Republican	Alabama

U.S. House time

Total tenure	Uninterrupted	Name	Party affiliation	State	Dates of service	Lifespan
1	59 years, 21 days	1	59 years, 21 days	John Dingell	Democratic	Michigan
2	53 years, 60 days	2	53 years, 60 days	Jamie Whitten	Democratic	Mississippi
3	52 years, 336 days	3	52 years, 336 days	John Conyers	Democratic	Michigan
4	50 years, 61 days	4	50 years, 61 days	Carl Vinson	Democratic	Georgia
5	49 years, 305 days	5	49 years, 305 days	Emanuel Celler	Democratic	New York
6	49 years, 12 days	6	49 years, 12 days	Don Young	Republican	Alaska
7	48 years, 257 days	7	48 years, 257 days	Sam Rayburn	Democratic	Texas
8	48 years, 0 days	999	N/A	Sidney R. Yates (I)	Democratic	Illinois
9	47 years, 3 days	8	47 years, 3 days	Wright Patman	Democratic	Texas
10	46 years, 0 days	9	46 years, 0 days	Charles Rangel	Democratic	New York
11	46 years, 0 days	999	N/A	Joseph Gurney Cannon (I)	Republican	Illinois
12	45 years, 247 days	10	45 years, 247 days	Adolph J. Sabath	Democratic	Illinois
13		11		Hal Rogers	Republican	Kentucky
14		12		Chris Smith	Republican	New Jersey
15		15		Steny Hoyer	Democratic	Maryland
16	44 years, 0 days	13	44 years, 0 days	George H. Mahon	Democratic	Texas
17	44 years, 0 days	14	44 years, 0 days	Charles E. Bennett	Democratic	Florida
18	43 years, 110 days	16	43 years, 110 days	Melvin Price	Democratic	Illinois
19		17		Marcy Kaptur	Democratic	Ohio
20	42 years, 288 days	18	42 years, 288 days	Bill Young	Republican	Florida
21	42 years, 58 days	19	42 years, 58 days	John W. McCormack	Democratic	Massachusetts
22	42 years, 0 days	20	42 years, 0 days	Jack Brooks	Democratic	Texas
23	42 years, 0 days	21	42 years, 0 days	Jim Sensenbrenner	Republican	Wisconsin
24	41 years, 362 days	22	41 years, 362 days	William R. Poage	Democratic	Texas
25	41 years, 305 days	23	41 years, 305 days	Robert L. Doughton	Democratic	North Carolina
26	41 years, 305 days	24	41 years, 305 days	Joseph W. Martin Jr.	Republican	Massachusetts
27	41 years, 276 days	25	41 years, 276 days	Dave Obey	Democratic	Wisconsin
28	41 years, 69 days	26	41 years, 69 days	Clarence Cannon	Democratic	Missouri
29	40 years, 240 days	27	40 years, 240 days	William Natcher	Democratic	Kentucky
30	40 years, 0 days	28	40 years, 0 days	Peter W. Rodino	Democratic	New Jersey
31	40 years, 0 days	29	40 years, 0 days	Pete Stark	Democratic	California
32	40 years, 0 days	30	40 years, 0 days	George Miller	Democratic	California
33	40 years, 0 days	31	40 years, 0 days	Henry Waxman	Democratic	California
34	39 years, 362 days	32	39 years, 362 days	Leslie C. Arends	Republican	Illinois
35	39 years, 352 days	33	39 years, 352 days	Daniel A. Reed	Republican	New York
36	39 years, 305 days	34	39 years, 305 days	John Taber	Republican	New York
37	39 years, 305 days	35	39 years, 305 days	William M. Colmer	Democratic	Mississippi
38		36		Nancy Pelosi	Democratic	California
39	38 years, 0 days	37	38 years, 0 days	Wilbur Mills	Democratic	Arkansas
40	38 years, 0 days	38	38 years, 0 days	Dante Fascell	Democratic	Florida
41	38 years, 0 days	39	38 years, 0 days	Robert H. Michel	Republican	Illinois
42	38 years, 0 days	40	38 years, 0 days	Nick Rahall	Democratic	West Virginia
43	37 years, 305 days	999	N/A	Robert Crosser (I)	Democratic	Ohio
44	37 years, 290 days	999	N/A	Bob Sikes (I)	Democratic	Florida
45		41		Frank Pallone	Democratic	New Jersey
46	37 years, 60 days	42	37 years, 60 days	Henry B. González	Democratic	Texas
47		43		Richard Neal	Democratic	Massachusetts
48	36 years, 256 days	44	36 years, 256 days	Ed Markey	Democratic	Massachusetts
49	36 years, 3 days	45	36 years, 3 days	John Murtha	Democratic	Pennsylvania
50	36 years, 0 days	46	36 years, 0 days	F. Edward Hébert	Democratic	Louisiana
51	36 years, 0 days	47	36 years, 0 days	Edward Boland	Democratic	Massachusetts
52	36 years, 0 days	48	36 years, 0 days	William Broomfield	Republican	Michigan
53	36 years, 0 days	49	36 years, 0 days	Dan Rostenkowski	Democratic	Illinois
54	36 years, 0 days	50	36 years, 0 days	Neal Smith	Democratic	Iowa
55	36 years, 0 days	51	36 years, 0 days	Joseph M. McDade	Republican	Pennsylvania
56	36 years, 0 days	52	36 years, 0 days	Ralph Regula	Republican	Ohio
57	36 years, 0 days	53	36 years, 0 days	Jim Oberstar	Democratic–Farmer–Labor	Minnesota
58	36 years, 0 days	54	36 years, 0 days	Norm Dicks	Democratic	Washington
59	36 years, 0 days	55	36 years, 0 days	Dale Kildee	Democratic	Michigan
60	36 years, 0 days	56	36 years, 0 days	Sander Levin	Democratic	Michigan
61	36 years, 0 days	57	36 years, 0 days	Pete Visclosky	Democratic	Indiana
62	36 years, 0 days	58	36 years, 0 days	Peter DeFazio	Democratic	Oregon
63	36 years, 0 days	59	36 years, 0 days	Fred Upton	Republican	Michigan

References

Members Who Have Served in the U.S. Congress 30 Years or More (as of 2006)

Wikipedia Source

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