List of United States Senators from Connecticut

This is a chronological listing of the United States Senators from Connecticut.

United States Senators are popularly elected, for a six year term, beginning January 3. Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1st. Before 1914, they were chosen by the Connecticut General Assembly, and before 1935, their terms began March 4.

[edit] Class 1

Class 1 Senators belong to the electoral cycle that were elected for only the 1st United States Congress in the first election of 1788 and whose seats in recent years are contested in 1994, 2000, 2006, and 2012.

#	Senator	Took office	Left office	Party	Residence	Background	Congress	Term	Electoral history
1	Oliver Ellsworth	March 4, 1789	March 8, 1796	Pro-Administration	Hartford	Delegate to the Constitutional Convention	1	1	Elected in 1788/1789
							2	2	Re-elected in 1791 Resigned to become Chief Justice of the United States
							3
							4
Vacant		March 8, 1796	December 6, 1796
2	James Hillhouse	December 6, 1796	June 10, 1810	Federalist	New Haven	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Elected to finish Ellsworth's term
							5	3	Re-elected in 1797
							6
							7
							8	4	Re-elected in 1803
							9
							10
							11	5	Re-elected in 1809 Resigned
Vacant		June 10, 1810	December 4, 1810
3	Samuel W. Dana	December 4, 1810	March 4, 1821	Federalist	Middletown	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Elected to finish Hillhouse's term
							12
							13
							14	6	Re-elected in 1814
							15
							16
4	Elijah Boardman	March 4, 1821	August 18, 1823	Democratic-Republican	Litchfield	Connecticut Senate	17	7	Elected in 1820 Died
							18
Vacant		August 18, 1823	October 8, 1823
5	Henry W. Edwards	October 8, 1823	March 4, 1827	Jacksonian	New Haven	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Appointed to continue Boardman's term Elected to finish Boardman's term
							19
6	Samuel A. Foot	March 4, 1827	March 4, 1833	Adams, later Anti-Jacksonian	Cheshire	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	20	8	Elected in 1826 Lost re-election
							21
							22
7	Nathan Smith	March 4, 1833	December 6, 1835	Whig	New Haven	U.S. District Attorney for Connecticut	23	9	Elected in 1832 Died
							24
Vacant		December 6, 1835	December 21, 1835
8	John Milton Niles	December 21, 1835	March 4, 1839	Jacksonian	Hartford	Postmaster of Hartford			Elected to finish Smith's term Retired
							25
9	Thaddeus Betts	March 4, 1839	April 7, 1840	Whig	Norwalk	Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut	26	10	Elected in 1838 Died
Vacant		April 7, 1840	May 4, 1840
10	Jabez W. Huntington	May 4, 1840	November 1, 1847	Whig	Norwich	Judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court			Elected to finish Betts's term
							27
							28
							29	11	Re-elected in 1844 Died
							30
Vacant		November 1, 1847	November 11, 1847
11	Roger Sherman Baldwin	November 11, 1847	March 4, 1851	Whig	New Haven	Governor of Connecticut			Appointed to continue Huntington's term Elected to finish Huntington's term
							31
Vacant		March 4, 1851	May 12, 1851				32	12
12	Isaac Toucey	May 12, 1851	March 4, 1857	Democratic	Hartford	U.S. Attorney General			Elected late in 1851 Retired
							33
							34
13	James Dixon	March 4, 1857	March 4, 1869	Republican	Hartford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	35	13	Elected in 1856
							36
							37
							38	14	Re-elected in 1863 Lost re-election
							39
							40
14	William Alfred Buckingham	March 4, 1869	February 5, 1875	Republican	Norwich	Governor of Connecticut	41	15	Elected in 1868 Died
							42
							43
15	William W. Eaton	February 5, 1875	March 4, 1881	Democratic	Hartford	Chief Judge of the Hartford City Court			Appointed to finish Buckingham's term, having been elected to the next term
							44	16	Elected in 1874
							45
							46
16	Joseph Roswell Hawley	March 4, 1881	March 4, 1905	Republican	Hartford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	47	17	Elected in 1881
							48
							49
							50	18	Re-elected in 1887
							51
							52
							53	19	Re-elected in 1893
							54
							55
							56	20	Re-elected in 1899 Retired
							57
							58
17	Morgan G. Bulkeley	March 4, 1905	March 4, 1911	Republican	Hartford	Governor of Connecticut	59	21	Elected in 1904 Lost re-election
							60
							61
18	George P. McLean	March 4, 1911	March 4, 1929	Republican	Simsbury	Governor of Connecticut	62	22	Elected in 1911
							63
							64
							65	23	Re-elected in 1916
							66
							67
							68	24	Re-elected in 1922 Retired
							69
							70
19	Frederic C. Walcott	March 4, 1929	January 3, 1935	Republican	Norfolk	President pro tempore of the Connecticut Senate	71	25	Elected in 1928 Lost re-election
							72
							73
20	Francis T. Maloney	January 3, 1935	January 16, 1945	Democratic	Meriden	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	74	26	Elected in 1934
							75
							76
							77	27	Re-elected in 1940 Died
							78
							79
Vacant		January 16, 1945	February 15, 1945
21	Thomas C. Hart	February 15, 1945	November 5, 1946	Republican	Sharon	U.S. Navy Admiral			Appointed to continue Maloney's term Successor qualified
Vacant		November 5, 1946	December 27, 1946
22	Raymond E. Baldwin	December 27, 1946	December 16, 1949	Republican	Stratford	Governor of Connecticut			Elected to finish Maloney's term, having been elected to the next term
							80	28	Elected in 1946 Resigned
							81
23	William Benton	December 17, 1949	January 3, 1953	Democratic	Southport	Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs			Appointed to continue Baldwin's term Elected to finish Baldwin's term Lost election to full term
							82
24	William A. Purtell	January 3, 1953	January 3, 1959	Republican	West Hartford	U.S. Senator	83	29	Elected in 1952 Lost Re-election
							84
							85
25	Thomas J. Dodd	January 3, 1959	January 3, 1971	Democratic	West Hartford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	86	30	Elected in 1958
							87
							88
							89	31	Re-elected in 1964 Lost Re-election
							90
							91
26	Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.	January 3, 1971	January 3, 1989	Republican	Greenwich	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	92	32	Elected in 1970
							93
							94
							95	33	Re-elected in 1976
							96
							97
							98	34	Re-elected in 1982 Lost Re-election
							99
							100
27	Joseph Lieberman	January 3, 1989	Incumbent	Democratic	New Haven	Attorney General of Connecticut	101	35	Elected in 1988
							102
							103
							104	36	Re-elected in 1994
							105
							106
							107	37	Re-elected in 2000
							108
							109
				Independent Democratic			110	38	Lost re-nomination, but re-elected in 2006
							111
#	Senator	Took office	Left office	Party	Residence	Background	Congress	Term	Electoral history

[edit] Class 3

Class 3 Senators belong to the electoral cycle that were elected to the first three U.S. Congresses in the first election of 1788 and whose seats in recent years are contested in 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2016.

#	Senator	Took office	Left office	Party	Residence	Background	Congress	Term	Electoral history
1	William Samuel Johnson	March 4, 1789	March 4, 1791	Pro-Administration	Stratford	Delegate to the Constitutional Convention	1	1	Elected in 1788/1789 Resigned
Vacant		March 4, 1791	June 13, 1791				2
2	Roger Sherman	June 13, 1791	July 23, 1793	Pro-Administration	New Haven	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Elected to finish Johnson's term Died
							3
Vacant		July 23, 1793	December 2, 1793
3	Stephen Mix Mitchell	December 2, 1793	March 4, 1795	Pro-Administration	Wethersfield	Delegate to the Constitutional Convention			Appointed to finish Sherman's term Retired
4	Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.	March 4, 1795	June 10, 1796	Federalist	Lebanon	Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives	4	2	Elected in 1794 Resigned to become Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
Vacant		June 10, 1796	October 13, 1796
5	Uriah Tracy	October 13, 1796	July 19, 1807	Federalist	Litchfield	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Elected to finish Trumbull's term
							5
							6
							7	3	Re-elected in 1801
							8
							9
							10	4	Re-elected in 1807 Died
Vacant		July 19, 1807	October 25, 1807
6	Chauncey Goodrich	October 25, 1807	May 13, 1813	Federalist	Hartford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Elected to finish Tracy's term
							11
							12
							13	5	Re-elected in 1813 Resigned to become Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
7	David Daggett	May 13, 1813	March 4, 1819	Federalist	New Haven	Connecticut Senate			Elected to finish Goodrich's term Retired
							14
							15
8	James Lanman	March 4, 1819	March 4, 1825	Democratic-Republican	Norwich	Connecticut Senate	16	6	Elected in 1819 Presented credentials but was not permitted to qualify
							17
							18
Vacant		March 4, 1825	May 4, 1825				19	7
9	Calvin Willey	May 4, 1825	March 4, 1831	National Republican	Tolland	Connecticut Senate			Elected late to complete Lanman's term
							20
							21
10	Gideon Tomlinson	March 4, 1831	March 4, 1837	National Republican	Fairfield	Governor of Connecticut	22	8	Elected in 1831
							23
							24
11	Perry Smith	March 4, 1837	March 4, 1843	Democratic	New Milford	Connecticut House of Representatives	25	9	Elected in 1837
							26
							27
12	John Milton Niles	March 4, 1843	March 4, 1849	Democratic	Hartford	U.S. Postmaster General	28	10	Elected in 1843
							29
							30
13	Truman Smith	March 4, 1849	May 24, 1854	Whig	Litchfield	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	31	11	Elected in 1848 Resigned
							32
							33
14	Francis Gillette	May 24, 1854	March 4, 1855	Free Soil	Hartford	Connecticut House of Representatives			Elected to finish Smith's term Retired
15	Lafayette S. Foster	March 4, 1855	March 4, 1867	Republican	Norwich	Mayor of Norwich	34	12	Elected in 1854
							35
							36
							37	13	Re-elected in 1860 Lost re-election
							38
							39
16	Orris S. Ferry	March 4, 1867	November 21, 1875	Republican	Norwalk	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	40	14	Elected in 1866
							41
							42
							43	15	Re-elected in 1872 Died
							44
Vacant		November 21, 1875	November 27, 1875
17	James E. English	November 27, 1875	May 17, 1876	Democratic	New Haven	Governor of Connecticut			Appointed to continue Ferry's term Retired when successor elected
18	William Henry Barnum	May 18, 1876	March 4, 1879	Democratic	Lime Rock	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Elected to finish Ferry's term
							45
19	Orville H. Platt	March 4, 1879	April 21, 1905	Republican	Meriden	Connecticut Attorney for New Haven County	46	16	Elected in 1879
							47
							48
							49	17	Re-elected 1885
							50
							51
							52	18	Re-elected 1891
							53
							54
							55	19	Re-elected 1897
							56
							57
							58	20	Re-elected in 1903 Died
Vacant		April 21, 1905	May 10, 1905
20	Frank B. Brandegee	May 10, 1905	October 14, 1924	Republican	New London	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives			Elected to finish Platt's term
							59
							60
							61	21	Elected to full term in 1908
							62
							63
							64	22	Re-elected in 1914
							65
							66
							67	23	Re-elected in 1920 Died
							68
Vacant		October 14, 1924	December 15, 1924
21	Hiram Bingham III	December 15, 1924	March 4, 1933	Republican	New Haven	Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut			Elected to finish Brandegee's term
							69
							70	24	Elected to full term in 1926 Lost re-election
							71
							72
22	Augustine Lonergan	March 4, 1933	January 3, 1939	Democratic	Hartford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	73	25	Elected in 1932 Lost re-election
							74
							75
23	John A. Danaher	January 3, 1939	January 3, 1945	Republican	Hartford	Secretary of the State of Connecticut	76	26	Elected in 1938 Lost re-election
							77
							78
24	Brien McMahon	January 3, 1945	July 28, 1952	Democratic	Norwalk	U.S. Assistant Attorney General	79	27	Elected in 1944
							80
							81
							82	28	Re-elected in 1950 Died
Vacant		July 28, 1952	August 29, 1952
25	William A. Purtell	August 29, 1952	November 4, 1952	Republican	West Hartford	Businessman			Appointed to continue McMahon's term Retired when successor elected
26	Prescott Bush	November 4, 1952	January 3, 1963	Republican	Greenwich	Banker			Elected to finish McMahon's term
							83
							84
							85	29	Re-elected in 1956 Retired
							86
							87
27	Abraham A. Ribicoff	January 3, 1963	January 3, 1981	Democratic	Hartford	U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare	88	30	Elected in 1962
							89
							90
							91	31	Re-elected in 1968
							92
							93
							94	32	Re-elected in 1974 Retired
							95
							96
28	Chris Dodd	January 3, 1981	Incumbent	Democratic	East Haddam	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives	97	33	Elected in 1980
							98
							99
							100	34	Re-elected in 1986
							101
							102
							103	35	Re-elected in 1992
							104
							105
							106	36	Re-elected in 1998
							107
							108
							109	37	Re-elected in 2006
							110
							111
#	Senator	Took office	Left office	Party	Residence	Background	Congress	Term	Electoral history