President of the Massachusetts Senate
The President of the Massachusetts Senate is the presiding officer. Unlike the United States Congress, in which the Vice President of the United States is the ex officio President of the United States Senate, in Massachusetts the President of the Senate is elected from and by the Senators. The President, therefore, typically comes from the majority party, and the President is then the de facto leader of that party.
The most recent President of the Massachusetts Senate was Harriette Chandler, a Democrat who served as acting President following Stan Rosenberg's decision in December 2017 to temporarily step down from his post while the Senate conducted investigations into allegations of sexual assault made against his husband, Bryon Hefner. Chandler moved from acting President to President of the Senate in February 2018. She relinquished that post on 26 July 2018, and was succeeded by Karen Spilka. Democrats have had a majority in the Senate since 1959.A = American, D = Democratic, R = Republican, W = Whig
