The dean of the state's congressional delegation, Leahy is Vermont's longest-serving U.S. senator, as well as the only Democrat ever elected to the U.S. Senate from Vermont. He is the former chairman of the Agriculture and Judiciary Committees. He served as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee from 2017 to 2021, and became chairman in 2021. In 2001, Leahy was one of the two U.S. senators targeted by the anthrax attacks that killed five people.