Seniority in the United States Senate

This convention has no official standing, though seniority confers several benefits, including preference in the choice of committee assignments and physical offices.

In the 1970s, some senators would resign a few days or weeks early so that their successor may be appointed to the seat and have greater seniority than other freshmen.

Because several new senators usually join at the beginning of a new Congress, seniority is determined by prior federal or state government service and, if necessary, the amount of time spent in the tiebreaking office.

These tiebreakers in order are:[3] When more than one senator had such office, its length of time is used to break the tie.

For instance, Jerry Moran, John Boozman, John Hoeven, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, Richard Blumenthal, and Mike Lee all took office on January 3, 2011.

This happened with Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both of Georgia, who were sworn in on January 20, 2021.

Because they were both newly elected senators from the same state, with no prior government service, no other tie-breaking criteria could be used.