Senate Historian: How the Senate has Changed | From the Archives

By JM Rieger and Megan Evans

Posted May 7, 2015 at 2:28pm

Senate Historian Donald Ritchie, in a 2010 exclusive interview with CQ Roll Call, discuses how a shift in the two political parties impacted the Senate over time.

Recent Stories

Chairwoman Kay Granger, R-Texas, conducts a House Appropriations Committee markup in the Rayburn House Office Building on July 18, 2023.

Kay Granger, trailblazing Texas congresswoman, dead at 83

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., shown here in March, lamented the exclusion of language to restrict “pocket rescissions.”

Senate’s funding patch adds Trump requests but blocks grant rule

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, arrives for the Senate Republicans’ lunch meeting on Wednesday.

Negotiations on Senate stopgap spending bill drag

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to a reporter as he boards the Senate subway on July 30, 2026.

‘How do we get out of here?’ — Congressional Hits and Misses

Troy Jackson, Maine Democratic nominee for Senate, speaks after winning the nomination at the Maine Democrats special nominating convention in Bangor, Maine, on Saturday. Jackson will challenge incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Photos of the week | July 24-30, 2026

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, center, attends a congressional ceremony for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday.