Talk:List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 110th Congress by seniority

I think the order is incorrect
There were two conflicting ideas on this page. This relates to seniority, looking at Senators who were first inauguratedon on the same day, senirotiy within that class (after sorting previously served congresspeople on top) it is unclear if it is based either on the relative size of the congressional district (at the time of oath taking) or the last name of the Congressman in alphabet order. Both can not be true, I beleive the former is the actual case but the list itself is oragnized according to the latter. Does anyone have any expertise on this?--Dr who1975 16:06, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Maybe this too confusing... ok it comes down to this... population vs last name. If my dealings with Senate seniority is any indication... it should be by population... but the page has it by last name... can somebody help me or at least tell me where to go look or ask?--Dr who1975 (talk) 17:11, 13 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I have no expertise, here, but that rarely stops me for voicing my opinion. The list at the Clerk's office seems to order them by last name (as you've stated).  I've looked high and low for a formal rule, but I can't find one.  So I'd go with something like "it appears that it's based on last name."—Markles 20:49, 14 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The clerk's office website has a list that shows congressmen sworn in on the same day subsequently listed by last name. Population cannot possibly be a factor in seniority rankings because every congressional district is supposed to have approximately the same population (hence the gaining and losing of seats per state and the reshaping of districts as states gain or lose people). Katagelophobia (talk) 20:21, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

According to the C-SPAN website, "To calculate seniority, the Senate gives credit for prior service in the Senate, in the House, or as governor of a state, in that order. The House only credits prior service in the House. Members within the same class, i.e. those sworn-in together on opening day, are ranked alphabetically." I believe there was a prior tradition of according otherwise-equally ranked senators (but not representatives) seniority by size of state, but that seems no longer to be in practice. Reliable lists of senators and representatives by seniority date can be found in the back of the biennial editions of The Almanac of American Politics. Newyorkbrad (talk) 00:02, 26 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Well this debate was about the house so glad that'ssettled... one correction... if you examine the official list of Senators by seniority (cited on that wikipage); state population is still a factor after previous service, VP/POTUS service, cabinet members, and governors.--Dr who1975 (talk) 17:32, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Leading zeros
Leading zeros are necessary only for Representatives from states with ten or more seats.—Markles 22:40, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

Sorting by date
You're gonna hate this, folks. If we want to make the Seniority Date column to be sortable, shouldn't it be in YYYY-MM-DD format instead of MMMM DD, YYYY format? Otherwise, it is sorted alphabetically first: April through September.—Markles 22:56, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * As a software developer... this makes sense to me.--Dr who1975 (talk) 14:49, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * So much sense that you can make the changes? —Markles 18:49, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Given time. I've got a lot of small changes I want to get out of my head first.--Dr who1975 (talk) 19:13, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Managed to find a (relatively) quick way to do it.--Dr who1975 (talk) 20:53, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Now that you've found a way to do it, it doesn't work the way I thought/hoped it would. I had hoped we could code it as  YYYY-MM-DD and that it would allow sorting on the column but would appear the way a user's preferences were set up (in my case, MMMM DD, YYYY.  However, since Dr who1975 didn't put the brackets "Markles 11:40, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * That's fine... you just revert it.--Dr who1975 (talk) 14:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I didn't put in brackets because it didn;t seem like 1955-12-13 linked anywhere relevent (although i see now it does so maybe we should reconsider doing it with the links on, let me know this week before Jindall steps down). I already knew that displaying it any other way would not allow for the sort so doing it without the link became my only option.--Dr who1975 (talk) 14:56, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks. —Markles 16:21, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

111th Congress
When this article is updated for the 111th Congress, it would be nice to preserve the current form of the article as an archive of seniority in the 110th Congress. Qqqqqq (talk) 21:15, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I started a new article for the 111th Congress: List of United States Representatives in the 111th Congress by seniority. Once the 111th begins, that article should be merged into this article, and I propose to then preserve this article's current form as List of United States Representatives in the 110th Congress by seniority. Any thoughts? Qqqqqq (talk) 21:40, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

List of United States Representatives in the 111th Congress by seniority already has been updated. Content simply could have been pasted from there. Qqqqqq (talk) 20:57, 2 December 2008 (UTC)