Is it common (or possible) for a Congressman (or Congresswoman) to go on to run for Senator?

Answer 1

Considering that the Senate is one of the houses of Congress, I'd say it's a safe bet that all Senators are Congressmen/women. However it is possible for a member of the House of Representatives to move on to the Senate.

Answer 2

Assuming that by Congressman, you mean members of the House of Representatives.

It is possible for members of the House to run for Senate, however, since the elections are normally held at the same time (assuming no special election to fill a vacancy in a Senate seat), running for the Senate means not running for re-election to the House.

Some members of the House do try to move up to the Senate and succeed. Senator Schumer and former Senator Santorum both run for the Senate while they were in the House. Other members of the House decide to concentrate on moving up the leadership in the House instead of trying to move to the Senate.

Obviously, there are benefits of moving to the Senate (mostly not having to run every six years). However, it is a lot easier to move to the Senate in a small state where there are fewer Representatives then in a large state where you have been representing only a tiny percentage of the voters and do not have statewide name recognition.

As far as it being common, I would not call it common but it also is not unusual. Typically, there will be (out of 33 or 34 Senate races) two or three Representatives running for the Senate in each election cycle, mostly in open seats. Currently, there are two Representatives who are expected to run for Senator in 2008 but that number may grow during the fall.

Answer 3

Very common, considering the Senate is a more exclusive club where you only have to run for reelection every 6 years vs. every 2.

Answer 4

Yes.