What is a Majority Whip?

The Majority Whip is a position in United States (U.S.) politics that's delegated to an elected official belonging to the majority party in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both the Republican and Democratic parties use a Majority Whip. Minority Whips are also used by the party holding fewer seats in one or both houses of Congress. Majority and Minority Whips are primarily responsible for keeping track of party members, to ensure that members are in attendance for important votes and events. In other words, whips help enforce important party protocol and procedure, as a commander might help keep soldiers in their proper file. In the U.S., the Majority Whip is one of the highest ranking positions in both the House and Senate.

The U.S. is not the first country to use party whips, nor is it the only nation to continue their use today. Before the U.S. adopted the position, whips were used in parliament in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Parliament derived the title of whip from fox hunting. When hunting foxes, it was the job of the "whipper in" to keep the fox hounds in order while on hunting expeditions. This idea translated easily to politics, where whips were appointed to keep their party members focused and in line when it came to voting on important measures. Some other nations to adopt the position are Australia, India and New Zealand. Like the U.S., many of the nations using whips were originally influenced either by British colonial rule or by some other political relationship with the U.K.

The first Majority Whip to be appointed in the U.S. was Minnesota Representative James A. Tawney in 1897. Tawney was appointed by then Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed, who created the position for Tawney to keep tabs on members of the Republican Party. Democrats did not take long in responding with their own whip position. In 1899, The Democratic Party appointed Oscar W. Underwood as their first whip. He was, however, a Minority Whip; the first Democratic Majority Whip, Thomas M. Bell, wasn’t appointed until 1913. Although the Republicans had used whips in every session of Congress since 1897, the Democrats did not use whips consistently until Bell was appointed, after which it became standard practice for both parties to appoint whips for every session of Congress.

Majority and Minority whips often use assistant whips to help cover different geographic regions. These are sometimes called regional whips. Congressional whip structures also often include other rankings of whip positions, such as Senior Chief Deputy Whips, At-Large Whips and Chief Deputy Whips. Although whips are most commonly talked of in reference to Congress, many state legislatures also appoint whips.