Caucus Chair

A caucus chairman is a person who chairs the meetings of a caucus. Often, the caucus chairman is assigned other duties as well.

In Canada, the elected members of each party in Parliament, including senators, or a provincial legislature, elect among themselves a caucus chairman who presides over their meetings. This person is an important figure when the party is in opposition and an important link between cabinet and the backbench when the party is in government.

In common U.S. Congressional Republican caucus legislative usage, the caucus chairman is styled conference chairman and is outranked by the Speaker or Senate President pro-tempore, and the leader or whip of his party.

The duties of a caucus chairman depend upon the political party caucus. In the Republican conference in the U.S. House of Representatives, for instance, the caucus chairman is in charge of coordinating the party's overall message.

The position of caucus chairman may or may not lead to higher office. Republican conference chair John Anderson and Democratic Caucus Chair Richard Gephardt unsuccessfully sought their party's Presidential nominations in 1980 and 1988 respectively. Anderson took his following and ran as a third party presidential candidate the same year, and never again achieved national prominence as a Republican. Gephardt though was elected as the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives in 1989, and stayed in that position through 2002, before stepping down to run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for President again in 2004. Gephardt helped nominate John Kerry by promptly endorsing him after Kerry defeated him in the Iowa caucuses.

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