US Senate Timeline

Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt declined to press perjury charges against U.S. Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) stemming from allegations he misled a legislative panel about the ...

Sen. Robert Byrd was released from the hospital Tuesday, after a six week stay that kept the 91-year-old West Virginia Democrat away from Capitol Hill. A statement from Byrd's office s...

Black conservative joins the race for Obama’s US Senate seat ImageWallace For Illinois FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 1, 2009 Black conservative joins the race for Obama’s US Senat...

Cheryle Jackson, the president of the Chicago Urban League, is moving closer to a run for the U.S. Senate, opening an exploratory committee this week. Jackson told me she will decide i...

Illinois Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk raised more than $580,000 in this year's second quarter and has more than $1 million in his campaign account -- funds he could use for a U.S. Sen...

Al Franken became a senator on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009, completing the transformation from comedian to politician. The Minnesota Democrat's swearing-in marked the end of an eight-month...

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan chose the political path of least resistance today, preserving her chance to ask voters for a promotion down the road, when state finances might be better...

Rep. Mark Steven Kirk will run for the Senate next year, a Republican source confirmed Wednesday. Kirk’s willingness to give up his House seat is a sign that the GOP will seriously com...

Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias raised $1.8 million to date for his Senate bid, while his likely Democratic rivals have zero dollars in their warchests. Giannoulias has been fund-...

Illinois Senator Roland Burris, appointed to his position by impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich, decides not to run for election in 2010.

Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias today released an initial list of over 60 elected officials who have pledged to support his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2010. Endorsements for Gi...

Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a Democrat and the youngest state treasurer in the nation when elected to that post at age 30 in November 2006, discussed his intentions to run for t...

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna said today that he will step aside if Rep. Mark Kirk runs for the Senate, clearing the way for Congressman to claim the GOP nomination. ...

"They were credit–worthy decisions, and again, it's easy to look back and say if we would have known real estate values would plummet 40%...it's easy to have 20–20 hindsight and make those..." —Alexi Giannoulias

In about an hour, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin the confirmation hearing of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s first nominee to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor has said ...

North Shore Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk will announce his long-expected foray into the U.S. Senate race Monday, sources familiar with his decision said Wednesday. The move comes aft...

A retired southern Illinois judge says he wants to be a U.S. senator. Sixty-two-year-old Don Lowery of Dixon Springs in Pope County says he'll be running as a Republican for the Senate...

A spokesman says that State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias will make a formal announcement sometime next week about plans to run for the United States Senate. Giannoulias is not yet an of...

"We're just a laughingstock in Washington." —Mark Kirk

First-term state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias firmly affixed his candidacy for the U.S. Senate to President Barack Obama on Sunday, contending that a new generation of leadership in the mo...

State Senate President John Cullerton will endorse State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias for U.S. Senate today. Cullerton becomes the highest-profile elected official to endorse Giannoulia...

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk presented Monday a rival plan for national health-care reform in opposition to the Democratic proposals making their way through Congress. Yet, it was unclear whether ...

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All right, we've certainly learned about the ugly side of Chicago politics in the past year. The Rod Blagojevich and Roland Burris pay-to-play scandal seemed to repres...

Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer, holds a commanding lead over his two potential primary rivals in the Illinois Senate race, according to a new poll obtained by PO...

On August 6, 2009, Sotomayor's appointment was brought up for a vote on the floor of the Senate. She was confirmed by a vote of 68 to 31. All Democrats and the two independents who caucus...

(CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of the first family of Democratic politics, died late Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after a lengthy battle...

Illinois State Treasurer and U.S. Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias surprised voters last week when he announced an extensive LGBT rights platform that included everything from his support...

If Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick wants the power to quickly name a temporary replacement for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, it's going to be up to him to do it. The Massachusetts Hou...

Paul Kirk is expected to get the immediate attention of top Democrats in Washington looking for all the troops they can find for the upcoming battle over legislation to overhaul the natio...

Illinois' largest union, the Service Employees International Union, will announce Thursday it is backing Democratic front-runner Alexi Giannoulias for U.S. Senate. Giannoulias threw hi...

A Massachusetts judge on Friday rejected a Republican request to delay the swearing in of Edward M. Kennedy's temporary replacement in the Senate. The state GOP had argued that Gov. Deva...

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid will announce his support for establishing a government-run health-insurance program that would allow individual states to opt out of the plan, a Democ...

At roughly 10:15am, nine students, along with other protesters, including some seniors, were arrested for staging a sit-in at Senator Lieberman’s Washington DC office. The protesters wer...

In West Virginia, the late Sen. Robert Byrd is already memorialized in more than 1,000 miles of highways and in the projects and jobs, worth billions of dollars, that he delivered over ha...

"While the [Senate Ethics] Committee did not find that the evidence before it supported any actionable violations of law, Senators must meet a much higher standard of conduct. Your sworn ..." —US Senate Select Committee on Ethics

In a letter of "qualified admonition" to Burris, the panel said it found he had provided "incorrect, inconsistent, misleading or incomplete information" about his appointment. "While t...

Senate Democrats managed to push health care reform legislation past a key hurdle on Saturday night, with a cloture vote that will lead to a debate on the Senate floor later this month, t...

The U.S. Senate backed a plan on Thursday to make it easier for women to get preventive health services such as mammograms as it cast its first votes on a sweeping healthcare overhaul. ...

The compromise scraps the bill's current version of a government-run health-insurance plan in favor of a more limited proposal that would empower the government's Office of Personnel Man...

By a vote of 54-45, Senators dismissed the abortion amendment offered by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Seven Democrats joined most Republicans in vo...

President Obama invited 60 Senate Democratic caucus members to the White House today, but most of his health care pitch is aimed at two particular members: Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson. ...

Another potential obstacle for Reid is moderate Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who on Thursday rejected compromise abortion language in the health care bill. Nelson has said he cannot s...

"I must say that I don't know what's happening here in this body but I think it's wrong" —Senator McCain

Sen. Roland Burris has had quite a 2009 – going from one time Illinois Attorney General to Rod Blagojevich-appointed U.S. Senator. How do you cap off the whirlwind year? A little healt...

Sen. John Kerry has suggested becoming the first high-level U.S. emissary to make a public visit to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, a move White House officials say they won't o...

Any health-care legislation that reaches President Barack Obama’s desk will be close to the version the Senate passed last week, top Democrats said yesterday. The Senate garnered the m...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid apologized to President Barack Obama on Saturday for comments he made during the 2008 presidential campaign that critics find racially offensive. A ne...

Democrats envisioned a smooth passing of the baton in the January 19 special election to fill the seat of the late Edward Kennedy, a political giant who died of brain cancer in August aft...

Senior presidential adviser David Axelrod said there would be a rethink on tactics but the substance of policy would not change. Earlier Republican Scott Brown, who won the seat, said he...

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday she thought Democrats in Congress would still produce healthcare legislation despite recent difficulties, saying no bill was not an optio...