Chuck Grassley

Senator Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican, turned 93 on Thursday, extending a decades-long career in Congress.

As the Republican majority's most senior senator, Grassley has presided over the chamber as president pro tempore since the current Congress began last year. He will likely keep the gavel if the GOP succeeds in the November midterm elections, for which Senate Republicans have a slight advantage.

Grassley has helped advance the caucus' initiatives over the course of the second Trump administration, holding confirmation hearings for some of the president's nominees while serving as a reliably Republican vote.

His support of some of Trump's most controversial conduct, like appointing his former personal lawyer as attorney general, has harmed the GOP's standing among Americans concerned with the country's direction. Polling shows most voters are dissatisfied with Republican governance, and nearly all see widespread corruption in the federal government, a measure that's risen rapidly over the past two years.

Grassley has maintained the consistent conservative positions he's formed, though, sticking behind the GOP's work as the midterms approach.