President pro tempore of the Vermont State Senate

The President pro tempore of the Vermont State Senate presides over the body in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor. In addition, the Senate President serves as a member of the Committee on Committees. The Committee on Committees, made up of the Lieutenant Governor, President of the Senate and a State Senator chosen by his or her peers, is responsible for making committee assignments and designating committee chairpersons, vice chairpersons and clerks.

Since 2011 the Senate President has been Senator John F. Campbell of Windsor County. Peter Welch, currently Vermont's member of the United States House of Representatives, served as Senate President from 1985 to 1989 and 2003 to 2007, and was the first Democrat to hold the post. Peter Shumlin, Governor since 2011, served as Senate President from 1997 to 2003 and 2007 to 2011.

From the founding of the Republican Party in the 1850s until the 1960s, only Republicans won statewide offices, and Republicans also controlled both the Vermont Senate and Vermont House of Representatives. As part of the party's Mountain Rule, the post of Senate President, along with that of House Speaker, were used to groom future Governors and Lieutenant Governors. Including Shumlin, nine Governors have served as Senate President (Eaton, Hendee, Redfield Proctor, McCullough, Prouty, Wills, Mortimer Proctor, Emerson, and Shumlin), as have six Lieutenant Governors who did not attain the governorship (Dale, Hinckley, Bates, Farnsworth, Babcock and Racine).

Senate President	Term	Party
Horace Eaton	1841	Whig
Ebenezer N. Briggs	1843	Whig
James Barrett	1845	Whig
George T. Hodges	1846-1847	Whig
John Kimball	1848	Whig
Oliver P. Chandler	1849	Whig
Asa Wentworth Jr.	1851	Whig
Edward Seymour	1852	Whig
Bliss N. Davis	1859	Republican
George Wilkins	1860	Republican
Frederick E. Woodbridge	1861	Republican
George F. Edmunds	1861-1862	Republican
Henry E. Stoughton	1863	Republican
Leverett B. Englesby	1864	Republican
Worthington C. Smith	1865	Republican
Seneca M. Dorr	1865-1866	Republican
George W. Hendee	1867-1868	Republican
George N. Dale	1869	Republican
Charles H. Heath	1870	Republican
Lyman G. Hinckley	1872	Republican
Redfield Proctor	1874	Republican
William W. Grout	1876	Republican
Loveland Munson	1878	Republican
Philip K. Gleed	1880	Republican
Justus Dartt	1882	Republican
Laforrest H. Thompson	1884	Republican
Henry C. Bates	1886-1888	Republican
Frank A. Dwinell	1890	Republican
Alfred A. Hall	1892	Republican
Frank Plumley	1894	Republican
Ashbel A. Dean	1896	Republican
John G. McCullough	1898	Republican
Frederick W. Baldwin	1900	Republican
Chauncey W. Brownell	1902	Republican
George H. Prouty	1904	Republican
William J. Van Patten	1906	Republican
Ernest W. Gibson, Sr.	1908	Republican
Max L. Powell	1910	Republican
Frederick H. Babbitt	1912	Republican
Max L. Powell	1915	Republican
William H. Fairchild	1917	Republican
Martin S. Vilas	1919	Republican
Harvey R. Kingsley	1921	Republican
Walter K. Farnsworth	1923	Republican
Edward H. Edgerton	1925	Republican
Levi P. Smith	1927-1929	Republican
William H. Wills	1931	Republican
Charles B. Adams	1933	Republican
William H. Wills	1935	Republican
Ernest W. Dunklee	1937	Republican
Mortimer R. Proctor	1939	Republican
Joseph H. Denny	1941	Republican
Lee E. Emerson	1943	Republican
John A. M. Hinsman	1945	Republican
Carroll L. Coburn	1947	Republican
Asa S. Bloomer	1949	Republican
Merrill W. Harris	1951	Republican
Carleton G. Howe	1953	Republican
Asa S. Bloomer	1955	Republican
Robert S. Babcock	1957	Republican
Asa S. Bloomer	1959-1963	Republican
John H. Boylan	1963-1965	Republican
George W. F. Cook	1965-1969	Republican
Edward G. Janeway	1969-1975	Republican
Robert A. Bloomer	1975-1985	Republican
Peter Welch	1985-1989	Democratic
Douglas Racine	1989-1993	Democratic
John H. Bloomer	1993-1995	Republican
Stephen W. Webster	1995-1997	Republican
Peter Shumlin	1997-2003	Democratic
Peter Welch	2003-2007	Democratic
Peter Shumlin	2007-2011	Democratic
John F. Campbell	2011-Present	Democratic