Trent Lott

Trent Lott
Official portrait, 2007
Senate Majority Leader
In office January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001
Deputy	Don Nickles
Preceded by	Tom Daschle
Succeeded by	Tom Daschle
In office June 12, 1996 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Bob Dole
Succeeded by	Tom Daschle
Senate Minority Leader
In office June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Deputy	Don Nickles
Preceded by	Tom Daschle
Succeeded by	Tom Daschle
In office January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001
Deputy	Don Nickles
Preceded by	Tom Daschle
Succeeded by	Tom Daschle
Leader of the Senate Republican Conference
In office June 12, 1996 – January 3, 2003
Deputy	Don Nickles
Preceded by	Bob Dole
Succeeded by	Bill Frist
Senate Minority Whip
In office January 3, 2007 – December 18, 2007
Leader	Mitch McConnell
Preceded by	Dick Durbin
Succeeded by	Jon Kyl
Senate Majority Whip
In office January 3, 1995 – June 12, 1996
Leader	Bob Dole
Preceded by	Wendell Ford
Succeeded by	Don Nickles
United States Senator from Mississippi
In office January 3, 1989 – December 18, 2007
Preceded by	John C. Stennis
Succeeded by	Roger Wicker
House Minority Whip
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1989
Leader	Robert H. Michel
Preceded by	Robert H. Michel
Succeeded by	Dick Cheney
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 5th district
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1989
Preceded by	William M. Colmer
Succeeded by	Larkin I. Smith
Personal details
Born	Chester Trent Lott (1941-10-09) October 9, 1941 (age 82) Grenada, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Republican (1972–present)
Other political affiliations	Democratic (before 1972)
Spouse	Patricia Thompson ​ (m. 1964)​
Children	2
Education	University of Mississippi (BPA, JD)
Signature
Trent Lott's voice Trent Lott speaks on U.S. policy towards Saddam Hussein's Iraq Recorded February 12, 1998

Chester Trent Lott Sr. (born October 9, 1941) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, author, and politician who represented Mississippi in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1989 and in the United States Senate from 1989 to 2007. Lott served in numerous leadership positions in both chambers of Congress as one of the first of a wave of Republicans winning seats in Southern states that had been solidly Democratic. Later in his career, he served twice as Senate Majority Leader, and also, alternately, Senate Minority Leader. In 2003, he stepped down from the position after controversy due to his praising of Senator Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist Dixiecrat presidential bid.

From 1968 to 1972, Lott was an administrative assistant to Representative William M. Colmer of Mississippi, who was also the chairman of the House Rules Committee. Upon Colmer's retirement, Lott won Colmer's former seat in the House of Representatives. In 1988, Lott ran successfully for the U.S. Senate to replace another retiree, John C. Stennis. After Republicans took the majority in the Senate, Lott became Senate Majority Whip in 1995 and then Senate Majority Leader in 1996, upon the resignation of presidential nominee Bob Dole of Kansas. Following GOP losses in the 2000 Senate races that resulted in a 50–50 split, Lott briefly became Senate Minority Leader, as Democrat Al Gore was still Vice President and President of the Senate^[a] at the beginning of the new term on January 3, 2001. Seventeen days later, Lott was restored as Senate Majority Leader after Republicans regained control of the chamber upon the inauguration of the new vice president, Dick Cheney, on January 20. Lott was Senate Majority Leader until June 6, 2001, when Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords changed his party affiliation from Republican to Independent, and caucused with the Senate Democrats for the remainder of his term. Thereafter, Lott again served as Senate Minority Leader.

Following Republican gains in the 2002 midterm elections, Lott was slated to again become Majority Leader when the next Senate session began in January 2003. However, on 20 December 2002, after significant controversy following comments he made regarding Strom Thurmond's presidential candidacy, Lott resigned as Senate Minority Leader.

Though no longer in leadership, Lott remained in the Senate until resigning in 2007. Fellow Republican Roger Wicker won the 2008 special election to replace him. Lott became a lobbyist, co-founding the Breaux–Lott Leadership Group. The firm was later acquired by law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs. Lott serves as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), where he focuses on issues related to energy, national security, transportation and congressional reforms. Lott is also a co-chair of BPC's Energy Project. In June 2020 Lott was fired from the Washington law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs while negotiating to join another firm.^[1] Days later on June 15, 2020, Lott joined Crossroads Strategies along with his longtime colleague John Breaux.^[2]

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