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This is a list ofAfrican Americans who have served in theUnited States Senate. The Senate has had 14 African-American elected or appointed officeholders. Two each served during both the 19th and 20th centuries.[1] The first wasHiram R. Revels.
Three of the 14 African-American senators heldIllinois'sClass 3 seat, includingBarack Obama, who went on to becomePresident of the United States. This makes Illinois the state having had the most African-American U.S. senators.
In 2016,Kamala Harris became the first African American to be elected a U.S. senator fromCalifornia. Harris would go on to become the first African-Americanvice president of the United States and first African-Americanpresident of the United States Senate.
In 2025,Tim Scott ofSouth Carolina became the longest-serving black senator in U.S. history at the start of his third term, and the first to chair afull committee.[2]
Of the 14 African-American senators, nine were popularly elected (including one that previously had been appointed by his state's governor), two were elected by the state legislature prior to the ratification of theSeventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913 (which mandated the direct election of U.S. senators by the people of each state), and three were appointed by a stategovernor and have not subsequently been elected.[citation needed]
The United States Senate is theupper house of thebicameralUnited States Congress, which is thelegislative branch of thefederal government of the United States. TheU.S. Census Bureau defines "African Americans" as citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of theblack populations of Africa.[3] The term is generally used for Americans with at least partial ancestry in any of the original peoples ofsub-Saharan Africa.[citation needed]
During thefounding of the federal government, African Americans were consigned to a status ofsecond-class citizenship orenslaved.[4] No African American served in federal elective office before the ratification in 1870 of theFifteenth Amendment to theUnited States Constitution, although some (includingAlexander Twilight, as state senator inVermont) served in state elective offices concurrently with slavery. The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the federal and state governments from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude.[5]
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The first two African-American senators represented the state ofMississippi during theReconstruction era, following theAmerican Civil War.Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African American to serve in the Senate, was elected in 1870[6] by theMississippi State Legislature to succeedAlbert G. Brown, who resigned during the Civil War. SomeDemocratic members of the United States Senateopposed his being seated based on the court caseDred Scott v. Sandford (1857) by theSupreme Court of the United States, claiming that Revels did not meet the nine-year citizenship requirement, but the majority of senators voted to seat him.[6]
In 1872, the Louisiana state legislature electedP. B. S. Pinchback to the Senate. However, the 1872 elections in Louisiana were challenged by white Democrats, and Pinchback was never seated in Congress.
The Mississippi state legislature electedBlanche Bruce in 1875, but Republicans lost power of the Mississippi state legislature in 1876. Bruce was not elected to a second term in 1881.[6] In 1890, the Democratic-dominated state legislature passed anew constitutiondisfranchising most black voters. Every other Southern state also passed disfranchising constitutions by 1908, thus excluding African Americans from the political system in the entire former Confederacy. This situation persisted well into the 1960s, when federal enforcement of constitutional rights under theVoting Rights Act of 1965 commenced.
The next black United States senator,Edward Brooke ofMassachusetts, took office in 1967. He was the first African American to be elected by popular vote after the ratification in 1913 of theSeventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which establisheddirect election of United States senators instead ofindirect election by a state legislature. ARepublican, Brooke was the first black senator to serve two terms in the Senate, holding office until 1979.[6] From 1979 to 1993, there were no black members of the United States Senate.
Between 1993 and 2010, three black members of theIllinois Democratic Party would hold Illinois's Class 3 Senate seat at different times.Carol Moseley Braun entered the Senate in 1993 and was the first African-American woman in the Senate.[6] She served one term. Barack Obama entered the Senate in 2005 and, in 2008, became the first African American to beelected president of the United States.[7] Obama was still a senator when he was elected president andRoland Burris, also an African American, was appointed to fill the remainder of Obama's Senate term. Burris only briefly ran for election and did not enter the Democratic primary.[8] From 2011 to 2013, there were no black senators for the first time since Obama was elected in 2004.
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Following Obama's election as president, the next two black senators,Tim Scott ofSouth Carolina andMo Cowan of Massachusetts, were both appointed by governors to fill the terms ofJim DeMint andJohn Kerry, respectively, who had resigned their positions.[6] Thus, 2013 marked the first time in history that more than one African American served in the Senate at the same time.[9] On October 16 of that year,Cory Booker ofNew Jersey was elected in aspecial election to fill the seat ofFrank R. Lautenberg, who died in office earlier in the year.[10] Booker was the first African-American senator to be elected since Obama and, when he was sworn into office, became the first to represent New Jersey. He later was elected to a full six-year term in the 2014 mid-term elections. Scott retained his seat in a special election in 2014 and also secured a full six-year term in 2016.
In 2017, Scott and Booker were joined byKamala Harris ofCalifornia.[11] Harris was the second African-American woman to serve in the Senate, and, in 2020, waselected as the first female vice president of the United States. In 2021,Raphael Warnock ofGeorgia was elected as the first African-American Democrat to represent a formerConfederate state in the Senate.
As of 2025, there have been over 2,000 members of the United States Senate,[12] of which 14 have been African American.[1]
| Image | Senator | State | Tenure | Party | Congress | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | Duration | |||||||
.png) | Hiram Rhodes Revels (1827–1901) | Mississippi | February 25, 1870 | March 3, 1871 | 1 year, 7 days | Republican | 41st (1869–1871) | Elected to complete an unfinished term after Mississippi was readmitted to the Union on February 23, 1870. First African American to serve in theUnited States Senate andCongress. Retired.[13][14] | |
 | Blanche Bruce (1841–1898) | Mississippi | March 4, 1875 | March 4, 1881 | 6 years, 0 days | Republican | 44th (1875–1877) | First African American to serve a full six-year term as aUnited States senator. The only senator to be a former slave. Retired.[15][16] | |
| 45th (1877–1879) | |||||||||
| 46th (1879–1881) | |||||||||
 | Edward Brooke (1919–2015) | Massachusetts | January 3, 1967 | January 3, 1979 | 12 years, 0 days | Republican | 90th (1967–1969) | First African American elected to the Senate bydirect election. First African American to serve in Congress fromMassachusetts. Lost reelection.[17] | |
| 91st (1969–1971) | |||||||||
| 92nd (1971–1973) | |||||||||
| 93rd (1973–1975) | |||||||||
| 94th (1975–1977) | |||||||||
| 95th (1977–1979) | |||||||||
| Carol Moseley Braun (born 1947) | Illinois | January 3, 1993 | January 3, 1999 | 6 years, 0 days | Democratic | 103rd (1993–1995) | First African-American female and African-American Democrat to serve in theUnited States Senate. First African American to serve in the Senate fromIllinois. Lost reelection.[18][19] | |
| 104th (1995–1997) | |||||||||
| 105th (1997–1999) | |||||||||
 | Barack Obama (born 1961) | Illinois | January 3, 2005 | November 16, 2008 | 3 years, 318 days | Democratic | 109th (2005–2007) | First African-American senator to be electedPresident of the United States. Resigned following election as president.[7][20] | |
| 110th (2007–2009) | |||||||||
 | Roland Burris (born 1937) | Illinois | January 15, 2009 | November 29, 2010 | 1 year, 318 days | Democratic | 111th (2009–2011) | Appointed by Illinois GovernorRod Blagojevich to fill vacancy caused by the resignation ofPresident-electBarack Obama. First African American to succeed another African American in the Senate. Not a candidate duringspecial election following his appointment.[8] | |
 | Tim Scott (born 1965) | South Carolina | January 2, 2013 | Incumbent | 13 years, 43 days | Republican | 112th (2011–2013) | Appointed by South Carolina GovernorNikki Haley to fill vacancy caused by the resignation ofJim DeMint. First African American to serve in the Senate fromSouth Carolina. First African American to serve in both chambers of theUnited States Congress.[21][22] | |
| 113th (2013–2015) | |||||||||
| 114th (2015–2017) | |||||||||
| 115th (2017–2019) | |||||||||
| 116th (2019–2021) | |||||||||
| 117th (2021–2023) | |||||||||
| 118th (2023–2025) | |||||||||
| 119th (2025–present) | |||||||||
 | Mo Cowan (born 1969) | Massachusetts | February 1, 2013 | July 16, 2013 | 165 days | Democratic | 113th (2013–2015) | Appointed by Massachusetts GovernorDeval Patrick to fill vacancy caused by the resignation ofJohn Kerry. Not a candidate duringspecial election following his appointment. First African-American senator appointed by an African-American governor. The first African American to serve alongside another African-American senator:Tim Scott. Retired.[23][24] | |
 | Cory Booker (born 1969) | New Jersey | October 31, 2013 | Incumbent | 12 years, 106 days | Democratic | 113th (2013–2015) | First African American to serve in the Senate fromNew Jersey. First African American to be elected to the Senate byspecial election.[10][25][26] | |
| 114th (2015–2017) | |||||||||
| 115th (2017–2019) | |||||||||
| 116th (2019–2021) | |||||||||
| 117th (2021–2023) | |||||||||
| 118th (2023–2025) | |||||||||
| 119th (2025–present) | |||||||||
 | Kamala Harris (born 1964) | California | January 3, 2017 | January 18, 2021 | 4 years, 15 days | Democratic | 115th (2017–2019) | First African American to serve in the Senate fromCalifornia. First African-American senator to be elected asVice President. Resigned following election as Vice President of the United States.[note 1][29][30] | |
| 116th (2019–2021) | |||||||||
| 117th (2021–2023) | |||||||||
| Raphael Warnock (born 1969) | Georgia | January 20, 2021 | Incumbent | 5 years, 25 days | Democratic | 117th (2021–2023) | First African American to serve in the Senate fromGeorgia.[31] | |
| 118th (2023–2025) | |||||||||
| 119th (2025–present) | |||||||||
.jpg) | Laphonza Butler (born 1979) | California | October 3, 2023 | December 8, 2024 | 1 year, 66 days | Democratic | 118th (2023–2025) | Appointed by GovernorGavin Newsom to fill the vacancy created by the death of SenatorDianne Feinstein.[32] First openlyLGBT African-American senator.[33] Not a candidate for election. Resigned. | |
.jpg) | Angela Alsobrooks (born 1971) | Maryland | January 3, 2025 | Incumbent | 1 year, 42 days | Democratic | 119th (2025–present) | First African American to serve in the Senate fromMaryland. First African-American woman to serve alongside another African-American woman in the Senate:Lisa Blunt Rochester.[34] | |
.jpg) | Lisa Blunt Rochester (born 1962) | Delaware | January 3, 2025 | Incumbent | 1 year, 42 days | Democratic | 119th (2025–present) | First African American to serve in the Senate fromDelaware. First African-American woman to serve alongside another African-American woman in the Senate:Angela Alsobrooks.[35] | |
| Image | Senator-elect | State | Year elected | Party | Congress | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | P. B. S. Pinchback (1837–1921) | Louisiana | 1873 | Republican | 44th (1875–1877) | Denied seat due to a contested election that involvedWilliam L. McMillen.[36] | |
Seven states have been represented by black senators. As of January 3, 2025, five states are represented by black senators.
| State | Current | Previous | Total | First black senator | Years represented by black senators | Year firstelected a black senator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 0 | 2 | 2 | Kamala Harris | 2017–2021, 2023–2024 | 2016 |
| Delaware | 1 | 0 | 1 | Lisa Blunt Rochester | 2025–present | 2024 |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 1 | Raphael Warnock | 2021–present | 2021 |
| Illinois | 0 | 3 | 3 | Carol Moseley-Braun | 1993–1999, 2005–2008, 2009–2010 | 1992 |
| Maryland | 1 | 0 | 1 | Angela Alsobrooks | 2025–present | 2024 |
| Massachusetts | 0 | 2 | 2 | Edward Brooke | 1967–1979, 2013 | 1966 |
| Mississippi | 0 | 2 | 2 | Hiram Rhodes Revels | 1870–1871, 1875–1881 | 1870 (by state legislature) |
| New Jersey | 1 | 0 | 1 | Cory Booker | 2013–present | 2013 |
| South Carolina | 1 | 0 | 1 | Tim Scott | 2013–present | 2014 |
The histogram below sets forth the number of African Americans who served in the United States Senate during the periods provided.
| Starting | Total | Graph |
|---|---|---|
| March 4, 1789 | 0 | |
| February 25, 1870 | 1 | ❚ |
| March 4, 1871 | 0 | |
| March 4, 1875 | 1 | ❚ |
| March 4, 1881 | 0 | |
| January 3, 1967 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 4, 1979 | 0 | |
| January 3, 1993 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 4, 1999 | 0 | |
| January 3, 2005 | 1 | ❚ |
| November 17, 2008 | 0 | |
| January 15, 2009 | 1 | ❚ |
| November 30, 2010 | 0 | |
| January 2, 2013 | 1 | ❚ |
| February 1, 2013 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| July 17, 2013 | 1 | ❚ |
| October 31, 2013 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| January 3, 2017 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| January 18, 2021 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| January 20, 2021 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| October 3, 2023 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| December 8, 2024 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| January 3, 2025 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| Election year | State | Winner | Second-place finisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Illinois | Barack Obama | Alan Keyes |
| 2014 | South Carolina | Tim Scott | Joyce Dickerson |
| 2016 | South Carolina | Tim Scott | Thomas Dixon |
| 2022 | Georgia | Raphael Warnock | Herschel Walker |
| South Carolina | Tim Scott | Krystle Matthews | |
| Note: Incumbent Senators are inbold | |||
Among many bits of history being recorded on Capitol Hill today, the office of Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, points out that he becomes both the longest serving Black senator in history and also the first Black senator to chair a full committee as he takes over the Banking Committee.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)Harris' mother, Dr. Shyamala Harris, emigrated from India. Her father, Donald Harris, emigrated from Jamaica.
Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) became thefirst African American to represent California in the United States Senate on January 3, 2017.
Harris, a Democrat, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. She became California's attorney general in January 2011. She was the first woman and thefirst African-American to hold the office in California's history.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will welcome itsfirst African American members in this century after Democrats added Sens. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to the panel that handles judicial nominations and appointments to the Justice Department.
She will also be just the second black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, and thefirst black senator from California.
The race to succeed Senator Barbara L. Boxer of California was supposed to be one of the marquee contests of the year ... It offers a window into the ethnic kaleidoscope that is California: Pitting a Latino, Representative Loretta Sanchez, against anAfrican-American, Kamala Harris, the state attorney general.
Harris, California'sfirst African-American senator, has not responded to the conservative response online.
