What is the difference between a senator and a representative?

#The House of Representatives

The House has 435 voting members. After each census, seats are divided among the states by population, and every state gets at least 1. A state with more than 1 seat elects each member from a separate district, and in a state with just 1 seat, the member represents the whole state. All seats are on the ballot every 2 years. Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and 4 other territories also send members, but they cannot vote when the full House meets.

#The Senate

Every state has 2 senators, no matter how many people live there, so the Senate has 100 members. Senators serve 6-year terms, and the terms are staggered, so about one-third of the seats are on the ballot every 2 years. The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified on April 8, 1913, gave voters the power to elect senators directly. Before that, state legislatures chose them.

#Different jobs in each chamber

• Bills to raise revenue must start in the House, though the Senate can amend them.
• The House can impeach federal officials, and the Senate then holds the trial, where conviction takes two-thirds of the senators present.
• Treaties need the approval of two-thirds of the senators present.
• The Senate confirms or rejects the president’s nominees, such as federal judges.

For any bill to become law, both chambers must pass it in the same form.

#State legislatures

Each state also has its own legislature, separate from Congress. In 49 states it has two chambers, a senate and a lower chamber. Many states call the lower chamber the house of representatives, but names vary, and New Jersey calls it the General Assembly. Nebraska has a single chamber of 49 senators. As of 2024, most states give lower-chamber members 2-year terms and state senators 4-year terms.