Can you name the longest serving Senators in U.S. history?

Duration	Senator	Political Party
50 years, 7 months, 25 days		Democratic
48 years, 4 months*		Democratic
47 years, 5 months, 17 days**		Republican
46 years, 9 months, 19 days		Democratic
41 years, 9 months, 30 days		Democratic
41 years, 1 month, 29 days		Democratic
40 years, 10 days		Republican
38 years, 1 month, 25 days		Democratic
38 years, 9 days		Democratic
38 years, 3 days		Democratic

Duration	Senator	Political Party
37 years, 2 months**		Republican
36 years, 2 months, 24 days**		Democratic
36 years, 20 days		Democratic
36 years, 13 days		Democratic
36 years		Republican
36 years		Democratic
35 years, 10 months		Democratic
35 years, 9 months, 22 days		Republican
35 years, 8 months, 13 days		Democratic
35 years, 6 months, 24 days		Democratic

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Longest Serving Senators Quiz

Rating:	Report a mistake
Created by: TJL -
Contributed: September 24th, 2009
Published: September 25th, 2009
Category: History
Plays: 22,292

Tags: Political Quizzes, serving, senator, duration, us history pack, longest, party

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	Booger:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 15:32 GMT	25 points
	Fun quiz. "State" hints for those who wanted them would be nice.

	hscshark:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 15:35 GMT	7 points
	I was thinking the same thing. At least put the state with the senator's name when the answers come up.

	swellwrench:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 15:46 GMT	7 points
	Yeah, this is just way to hard without the state and/or the years served.

	kidcanada:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 15:57 GMT	22 points
	40 years, 10 days is having trouble finding this quiz through the series of tubes.

	RyanUR:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 15:59 GMT	4 points
	What, no Whigs?

	y2jdilemma:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:15 GMT	5 points
	Great quiz. And crazy hard. I was coming up with names I hadnt thought of in years...and nothing.

	quiztaker:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:16 GMT	7 points
	Great quiz, but states or years served would be nice.

	Pyrophorus:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:17 GMT	5 points
	Does it list the last party served under? Thurmond switched parties in 1964.

	Mr_Negative:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:25 GMT	1 point
	Kennedy and I'm out.

	btroup1:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:38 GMT	1 point
	I got the first three, and knew the fourth was from Hawaii. I just couldn't spell the name. But that's a me problem.

	bsd987:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:40 GMT	3 points
	Thurmond served as both. He should be listed as such

	Guinevere:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:56 GMT	4 points
	Aw, kidcanada stole my joke. I loved this quiz, but wish I'd done better. Missed the Hawaiian senator - I didn't know he'd served that long. I knew the top three, made educated guesses on Biden and Long, and got Smith by my usual "try typing in anglo-saxon names and see if you have any luck" method. I thought Helms might've been on the list but Wikipedia says he served 30 years.

	Sally:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 16:58 GMT	1 point
	Bah, can't believe I forgot Ted Stevens! Very challenging, I only got Kennedy, Byrd, Biden and Thurmond. Fun quiz though!

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	Jordan117:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 17:46 GMT	4 points
	The 4th-most-guessed served from 1909-1944. I wonder how many people guessed him by plugging in a few common last names?

	JohnJF:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 18:11 GMT	2 points
	@Jordan117: Well, since he's more gotten than Joe Biden (including by myself), I would say quite a few people took that route.

	jon1029:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 19:28 GMT	3 points
	As a Washingtonian, I should have guessed Warren Magnuson. State clues would have been helpful

Comment below threshold: show it

	ChinaWhite:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 20:41 GMT	3 points
	why do people get satisfaction from just filling them in? Isnt the fun of it all, seeing what you actually know?

	jiminymatthew:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 20:48 GMT	2 points
	quite the drop off from most guessed to second most guessed, isn't there?

	davebesag:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 21:31 GMT	2 points
	Also got the top three and knew the fourth's first name and state. Was surprised that my guess of Biden was correct. I also got Stevens solely because I was trying for any of the Stevenson family. Was surprised Dole wasn't there but hadn't realised he'd been in the House for 8 of his Congress years. I only other one I recognised after seeing the answers was Russell Long.

	springmom:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 23:00 GMT	-4 points
	It's time for Term Limits, people!!!!!

	bostoncane:	Sep 25th, 2009 at 23:44 GMT	-2 points
	I noticed somebody got them all... does it count in the stats when sporcle is testing a quiz? Or someone pulled up wiki in another window?

	InsertCleverName:	Sep 26th, 2009 at 00:19 GMT	1 point
	Looking at some of the southern Senators, that's about 500 combined years of fighting any kind of civil rights legislation.

	TJL:	Sep 26th, 2009 at 00:27 GMT	1 point
	I created the quiz, and have gotten them all right several times. So, a portion of the .9% that have gotten all comes from me. I think the lack of states makes it more fun. I considered doing dates served, but figured it would make some too easy. Sporcle may overrule me, as they now are in full control of the quiz

	TJL:	Sep 26th, 2009 at 00:28 GMT	1 point
	I'm surprised no one has found my joke answer, or at least hasn't commented on it.

	GoldenBo:	Sep 26th, 2009 at 00:59 GMT	2 points
	It's killing me not getting the joke answer. I have entered short timer senators, Galactic Republic and Imperial Senators, Roman Senators, old ball players from the Washington Senators and even the name of the character in legally blonde 2. AARRGGHH!!

	TJL:	Sep 26th, 2009 at 02:30 GMT	2 points
	It's not a bonus. One of the answers comes up when you enter in a certain word

	dudemanbearpig:	Sep 26th, 2009 at 16:03 GMT	1 point
	So being a Klansman means you get rewarded with over 50 years in the Senate.

	caligal14:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 02:56 GMT	1 point
	Arghhh! At the point I hit 'typing-in-random-common-last-names' I always do 'Russell' (cuz that's mine) and Byrd (cuz that's my friend's) and this is the one time I forgot! Rawr.

	NightOwl:	Oct 1st, 2009 at 19:57 GMT	1 point
	Harder than I thought it would be. Either dates or states would've helped jar the memory.

	thesean:	Oct 14th, 2009 at 09:13 GMT	3 points
	Oh dear, Strom finally appears on Sporcle. My grandfather's cousin (no joke, he really was my grandfather's cousin - everybody in that damn family lives forever) had been beyond my thoughts. Stom Thurmond - got to love (one-time) segregationists with African-American mistresses.

	TJL:	Oct 24th, 2009 at 01:22 GMT	4 points
	Needs to be updated. Inouye just surpassed Kennedy, and is now the 3rd longest serving Senator

	Limelight05:	Jun 29th, 2010 at 15:10 GMT	3 points
	update, robert byrd died

	catcherj:	Jul 18th, 2010 at 00:12 GMT	2 points
	Should follow this up with one on longest serving junior senators. I think the first one (though I'm not sure) would be Daniel K. Akaka, who is serving alongside Inouye at the moment.

	TheBigE1980:	Jul 27th, 2010 at 18:26 GMT	2 points
	Can this quiz be used as evidence by people in favor of Congressional term limits?

	cocky:	Aug 8th, 2010 at 21:52 GMT	1 point
	We have term limits, they are called elections.

	TJL:	Sep 11th, 2010 at 21:16 GMT	1 point
	@catcherj: I may make that quiz next. I think you're right. For a while, it was Kerry, but then Ted Kennedy died.

	sobdennis:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 18:48 GMT	2 points
	Actually the longest serving junior senator of all time is on this list. Hollings served all but his last two years as a junior senator, thanks to Strom Thurmond. Also, it is stretching it some to say Thurmond served non consecutively. He resigned to allow for an election and succeeded himself.