Paying His Dues: Markey Shatters Senate Record for Prior House Service

The newest member of the U.S. Senate breaks a record that had been held for 88 years – by a predecessor of his own Senate seat

Ed Markey’s victory in Massachusetts’ U.S. Senate race Tuesday not only made him one of the oldest candidates to win a special election in the direct election era, but it also earned him a record he now holds all his own.

At one level, Markey’s accomplishment is rather pedestrian – becoming the 608th U.S. Senator to first serve in the House of Representatives.

(A few dozen other members of Congress served in the Senate first and then the House, such as Massachusetts’ own John Quincy Adams).

But Markey did not just serve in the House – he served longer than any other newly minted Senator in the nation’s history.

A Smart Politics study of congressional records finds that Ed Markey served longer in the House of Representatives than any other elected or appointed U.S. Senator in history – demolishing a record that has been held for 88 years by 1,700 days.

Markey has served 36 years, 7 months, and 26 days in the House of Representatives through Thursday, or 13,387 days.

The Senator-elect will continue to pad that total as he waits to be sworn in while the State certifies his election over the coming days.

Markey shatters a mark that had been held for 88 years, when one of his predecessors to the Bay State’s Class II Senate seat graduated from the nation’s lower to upper chamber during the Calvin Coolidge administration.

Republican Frederick Gillett served 16 full terms and 32 years (11,687 days) from March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1925 in the House of Representatives from Massachusetts’ 2nd congressional district.

After serving his last three terms as Speaker of the House, Gillett was elected to the Senate in 1924 and served one term in the chamber from 1925 until his retirement in 1931.

Gillett’s record of sweating out 16 terms in the House before getting a Senate seat stood for the next 88 years, until Markey threw his hat into the ring and won John Kerry’s old seat this week.

Markey’s accomplishment would have been rare even if he had served just half as long in the House of Representatives.

Of the 608 Senators with prior House experience in U.S. history – only 10 had first served at least 10 terms in the lower chamber.

Markey becomes the 11th.

The third longest pre-Senate tenure in the House of Representatives after Markey and Gillett belongs to Jeffersonian-Republican Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina at 13 terms (1791-1815).

Coming in at 12 terms are Jacksonian John Randolph of Virginia (1799-1813; 1815-1817; 1819-1825) and Republican Jim Broyhill of North Carolina (1963-1986).

Most Terms Served in House of Representatives Before Election or Appointment to U.S. Senate

State	Senator	Party	Entered Senate	Prior House service	House terms
MA	Ed Markey	Democrat	2013	1976-2013	20
MA	Frederick Gillett	Republican	1925	1893-1925	16
NC	Nathaniel Macon	Jeffersonian Republican	1815	1791-1815	13
VA	John Randolph	Jacksonian	1825	1799-1813; 1815-1817; 1819-1825	12
NC	Jim Broyhill	Republican	1986	1963-1986	12
KY	Virgil Chapman	Democrat	1949	1925-1929; 1931-1949	11
TN	Cordell Hull	Democrat	1931	1907-1921; 1923-1931	11
MD	Ben Cardin	Democrat	2007	1987-2007	10
AL	John Bankhead	Democrat	1907	1887-1907	10
AL	Oscar Underwood	Democrat	1915	1895-1896; 1897-1915	10
NY	James Mead	Democrat	1938	1919-1938	10

Table compiled by Smart Politics.

Markey Continues a Massachusetts Tradition

With the addition of Markey, now 25 of the 53 U.S. Senators in Massachusetts history first served in the House, or 47.2 percent.

That is the third highest rate in the nation for states that elected (or appointed) U.S. Senators with prior House service.

Massachusetts trails only Hawaii (4 of 7 Senators, 57.1 percent) and Virginia (26 of 54, 48.1 percent).

Markey joins other Bay State notables who cut their teeth in D.C. in the lower legislative chamber before entering the Senate such as Daniel Webster (three terms), Henry Cabot Lodge (four terms), John Kennedy (three terms), and Paul Tsongas (two terms).

Rounding out the Top 10 states are Connecticut at #4 (45.5 percent), Maryland at #5 (44.6 percent), Oklahoma at #6 (41.2 percent), Maine at #7 (40.5 percent), Indiana at #8 (40.0 percent), New Hampshire at #9 (39.7 percent) and Washington at #10 (39.1 percent).

Alaska is the only state never to groom one of its Senators with a stint in the U.S. House, with Oregon (8.1 percent), Wyoming (14.3 percent), Florida (14.7 percent) and Nebraska (16.2 percent) rounding out the bottom five.

Percentage of U.S. Senators Who First Served in the U.S. House by State

Rank	State	# First elected to US House	Total # of Senators	Percent
1	Hawaii	4	7	57.1
2	Virginia	26	54	48.1
3	Massachusetts	25	53	47.2
4	Connecticut	25	55	45.5
5	Maryland	25	56	44.6
6	Oklahoma	7	17	41.2
7	Maine	15	37	40.5
8	Indiana	18	45	40.0
9	New Hampshire	25	63	39.7
10	Washington	9	23	39.1
11	South Dakota	10	26	38.5
12	Vermont	15	40	37.5
13	New York	22	59	37.3
14	Michigan	14	38	36.8
15	Illinois	18	49	36.7
16	Arizona	4	11	36.4
16	Kentucky	24	66	36.4
18	Pennsylvania	19	53	35.8
19	Ohio	20	56	35.7
20	Georgia	21	60	35.0
21	Iowa	11	33	33.3
22	Arkansas	11	34	32.4
23	Mississippi	14	44	31.8
24	Tennessee	18	58	31.0
25	South Carolina	17	56	30.4
26	Alabama	12	40	30.0
26	Montana	6	20	30.0
28	New Mexico	5	17	29.4
29	Colorado	10	35	28.6
29	Wisconsin	8	28	28.6
31	Texas	9	32	28.1
32	North Carolina	15	54	27.8
33	Delaware	14	51	27.5
34	Kansas	9	33	27.3
35	North Dakota	6	23	26.1
36	West Virginia	8	32	25.0
37	Idaho	6	26	23.1
38	California	9	43	20.9
39	Louisiana	10	48	20.8
39	Rhode Island	10	48	20.8
41	Missouri	9	45	20.0
41	Nevada	5	25	20.0
41	New Jersey	13	65	20.0
44	Utah	3	16	18.8
45	Minnesota	7	39	17.9
46	Nebraska	6	37	16.2
47	Florida	5	34	14.7
48	Wyoming	3	21	14.3
49	Oregon	3	37	8.1
50	Alaska	0	7	0.0

Table includes Senators who were elected and appointed to the office, including each state’s first two senators elected at statehood. Data compiled by Smart Politics.

Former U.S. Representatives Serving in the U.S. Senate Today

Markey’s election to the Senate also brings the current total number of Senators with prior House service to 52 – tied with the 109th Congress for the most since the turn of the 20th Century (U.S. Senate historical records date back only to the 56th Congress).

The 113th Congress falls short of the stand-alone record during this period due to the death in December of long-serving Hawaii U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye who had served two terms in the House at the beginning of his D.C. legislative career.

Among actively-serving U.S. Senators, Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin had the most House experience prior to Markey among his colleagues who had served in the lower chamber.

Cardin served 10 terms from Maryland’s 3rd CD prior to his election to the Senate in 2006.

New York Democrat Chuck Schumer had served nine terms in the House with Republican Pat Roberts of Kansas, Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon, and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont all serving eight terms.

With the addition of Markey, the average length of time served in the House among these 52 Senators is 4.9 terms.

All but seven did so without a gap in service between the two chambers.

Florida Democrat Bill Nelson had the largest gap of 10 years with Tom Carper (D-DE) at eight, Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) at six, Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Rob Portman (R-OH) at four, and John Thune (R-SD) at two.

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