List of United States senators in the 98th Congress

This is a complete list of members of the United States Senate during the 98th United States Congress listed by seniority, from January 3, 1983, to January 3, 1985.

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 his or her 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.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

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 at the start of the congress until Henry M. Jackson (D-Washington) died on September 1, 1983, after which Slade Gorton (R-Washington) became the 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 1984 election) are listed at the end of the list with no number.

Terms of service

Class	Terms of service of senators that expired in years
Class 2	Terms 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.)^[5]
Class 3	Terms of service of senators that expired in 1987 (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.)^[6]
Class 1	Terms of service of senators that expired in 1989 (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.)^[7]

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^[8] (D-WA)	January 3, 1953	Former representative (14 years)
4	Strom Thurmond (R-SC)	November 7, 1956	Former governor, Previously a senator
5	William Proxmire (D-WI)	August 28, 1957
6	Jennings Randolph (D-WV)	November 5, 1958	Former representative (14 years)
7	Robert Byrd (D-WV)	January 3, 1959	Former representative
8	Quentin Northrup Burdick (D-ND)	August 8, 1960	Former representative
9	Claiborne Pell (D-RI)	January 3, 1961
10	John Tower (R-TX)	June 15, 1961
11	Ted Kennedy (D-MA)	November 7, 1962
12	Daniel Inouye (D-HI)	January 3, 1963	Former representative
13	Fritz Hollings (D-SC)	November 9, 1966	Former governor
14	Charles H. Percy (R-IL)	January 3, 1967	Illinois 4th in population (1960)
15	Howard Baker (R-TN)	January 3, 1967	Tennessee 17th in population (1960)
16	Mark Hatfield (R-OR)	January 10, 1967	Former governor
17	Ted Stevens (R-AK)	December 24, 1968
18	Thomas Eagleton (D-MO)	December 28, 1968
19	Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)	January 3, 1969	Previously a senator
20	Charles Mathias (R-MD)		Former representative (8 years) - Maryland 21st in population (1960)
21	Bob Dole (R-KS)		Former representative (8 years) - Kansas 29th in population (1960)
22	Alan Cranston (D-CA)		California 2nd in population (1960)
23	Bob Packwood (R-OR)		Oregon 32nd in population (1960)
24	Bill Roth (R-DE)	January 1, 1971	Former representative
25	Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX)	January 3, 1971	Former representative (6 years)
26	Lowell Weicker (R-CT)		Former representative (2 years)
27	Lawton Chiles (D-FL)
28	Robert Stafford (R-VT)	September 16, 1971	Former governor, Former representative (10 years)
29	Sam Nunn (D-GA)	November 8, 1972
30	Bennett Johnston Jr. (D-LA)	November 14, 1972
31	James A. McClure (R-ID)	January 3, 1973	Former representative
32	Jesse Helms (R-NC)		North Carolina 12th in population (1970)
33	Walter Huddleston (D-KY)		Kentucky 23rd in population (1970)
34	Pete Domenici (R-NM)		New Mexico 37th in population (1970)
35	Joe Biden (D-DE)		Delaware 46th in population (1970)
36	Paul Laxalt (R-NV)	December 18, 1974
37	Jake Garn (R-UT)	December 21, 1974
38	John Glenn (D-OH)	December 24, 1974
39	Wendell H. Ford (D-KY)	December 28, 1974
40	Dale Bumpers (D-AR)	January 3, 1975	Former governor
41	Gary Hart (D-CO)		Colorado 30th in population (1970)
42	Patrick Leahy (D-VT)		Vermont 48th in population (1970)
43	John Danforth (R-MO)	December 27, 1976
44	Edward Zorinsky (D-NE)	December 28, 1976
45	Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH)	December 29, 1976	Previously a senator
46	John Chafee (R-RI)	December 29, 1976	Former governor, Former cabinet secretary
47	Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI)	December 30, 1976	Former representative
48	Spark Matsunaga (D-HI)	January 3, 1977	Former representative (14 years)
49	John Melcher (D-MT)		Former representative (7 years, 7 months)
50	H. John Heinz III (R-PA)		Former representative (6 years)
51	Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)		Former representative (6 years)
52	Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY)		New York 2nd in population (1970)
53	Richard Lugar (R-IN)		Indiana 11th in population (1970)
54	Jim Sasser (D-TN)		Tennessee 17th in population (1970)
55	Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ)		Arizona 22nd in population (1970)
56	Orrin Hatch (R-UT)		Utah 36th in population (1970)
57	Malcolm Wallop (R-WY)		Wyoming 49th in population (1970)
58	David Durenberger (R-MN)	November 8, 1978
59	Max Baucus (D-MT)	December 15, 1978	Former representative
60	Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS)	December 23, 1978
61	Thad Cochran (R-MS)	December 27, 1978	Former representative
62	Rudy Boschwitz (R-MN)	December 30, 1978
63	Alan K. Simpson (R-WY)	January 1, 1979
64	John Warner (R-VA)	January 2, 1979	Former cabinet secretary
65	David Pryor (D-AR)	January 3, 1979	Former representative (6 years, 2 months)
66	William Cohen (R-ME)		Former representative (6 years)
67	Paul Tsongas (D-MA)		Former representative (4 years) - Massachusetts 10th in population (1970)
68	William L. Armstrong (R-CO)		Former representative (4 years) - Colorado 30th in population (1970)
69	Larry Pressler (R-SD)		Former representative (4 years) - South Dakota 44th in population (1970)
70	David L. Boren (D-OK)		Former governor - Oklahoma 27th in population (1970)
71	J. James Exon (D-NE)		Former governor - Nebraska 35th in population (1970)
72	Carl Levin (D-MI)		Michigan 7th in population (1970)
73	Bill Bradley (D-NJ)		New Jersey 8th in population (1970)
74	Howell Heflin (D-AL)		Alabama 21st in population (1970)
75	Roger Jepsen (R-IA)		Iowa 25th in population (1970)
76	Gordon J. Humphrey (R-NH)		New Hampshire 41st in population (1970)
77	George J. Mitchell (D-ME)	May 17, 1980
78	Warren Rudman (R-NH)	December 31, 1980
79	Paula Hawkins (R-FL)	January 1, 1981
80	Jeremiah Denton (R-AL)	January 2, 1981
81	Mark Andrews (R-ND)	January 3, 1981	Former representative (16 years)
82	Steve Symms (R-ID)		Former representative (12 years)
83	James Abdnor (R-SD)		Former representative (8 years)
84	Chris Dodd (D-CT)		Former representative (6 years) - Connecticut 24th in population (1970)
85	Chuck Grassley (R-IA)		Former representative (6 years) - Iowa 25th in population (1970)
86	Dan Quayle (R-IN)		Former representative (4 years) - Indiana 11th in population (1970)
87	Bob Kasten (R-WI)		Former representative (4 years) - Wisconsin 16th in population (1970)
88	Al D'Amato (R-NY)		New York 2nd in population (1970)
89	Arlen Specter (R-PA)		Pennsylvania 3rd in population (1970)
90	Alan J. Dixon (D-IL)		Illinois 5th in population (1970)
91	John Porter East (R-NC)		North Carolina 12th in population (1970)
92	Mack Mattingly (R-GA)		Georgia 15th in population (1970)
93	Slade Gorton (R-WA)		Washington 22nd in population (1970)
94	Don Nickles (R-OK)		Oklahoma 27th in population (1970)
95	Frank Murkowski (R-AK)		Alaska 50th in population (1981)
96	Frank Lautenberg^[9] (D-NJ)	December 27, 1982
97	Paul Trible (R-VA)	January 3, 1983	Former representative
98	Pete Wilson (R-CA)		California 1st in population (1980)
99	Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)		New Mexico 37th in population (1980)
100	Chic Hecht (R-NV)		Nevada 43rd in population (1980)
101	Daniel J. Evans (R-WA)	September 12, 1983
102	John Kerry (D-MA)	January 2, 1985

Notes

^ A Chronological List of United States Senators 1789-Present, via www.Senate.gov
^ 1961 U.S Census Report Contains 1960 Census results.
^ 1971 U.S Census Report Contains 1970 Census results.
^ 1981 U.S Census Report Contains 1980 Census results.
^ Terms of service of senators that expired in 1985.
^ Terms of service of senators that expired in 1987.
^ Terms of service of senators that expired in 1989.
^ Senator Jackson died on September 1, 1983.
^ Senator Lautenberg left the Senate but returned in 2003, he cannot regain his previous seniority according to Senate Rules.