What is a state senator; is it the same as state representative?

The constitution provides for 2 chambers of congress. The Senate and the House of Representatives. In revolutionary America small states feared they would be powerless against larger more populace states while large states argued that it would be unfair for states with a fraction of their population to have the same power. The Connecticut compromise provided for two branches of congress. In the House of Representatives the number of representatives is determined by the state’s population and the Senate where every state would have 2 senators regardless of population (bicameral means two chambers). Originally Senators were chosen by each state’s legeslature. This was changed by the 17th amendment that changed senators from being chosen by state legislators to being directly elected by the people of each state. There are other differences as well. Senators are elected state-wide while representatives are elected by the district they represent. Senators are elected to 6 year terms while representatives only serve 2 year terms. Since the Senate was envisioned as the more mature and reasoned chamber the minimum age for Senators 30 while the minimum age for representatives is 25. As states were added and populations grew the number of representatives got to be unweildly so after the Civil War the number was set to 435 with the number in each state adjusted after each census but every state would have at least 1 representative. The least populated states Wyoming, Vermont, North and South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware and Montana each have 1 representative while the most populated state California has 53 representatives.

Filetofspam’s answer is a very good one, but it answers a different question: “What is a United States senator; is it the same as a U.S. representative?” This is an easy confusion to fall into because, while “U.S. senator” or “U.S. congressperson” are clear enough, “New York congressman” or “California senator” are inherently ambiguous and could refer either to federal office-holders (members of the U.S. House or Senate FROM the named state) or to state office-holders (members of the legislature OF the named state). Jenndue, however, asked specifically about state legislators, not federal ones - though it’s possible that she, too, meant the latter, and simply misstated her question because, as I said, it’s an easy confusion.

Each state, too, has its own “bicameral” legislature consisting of a state senate and a state house of representatives (called a “general assembly” in some states). The structure and rules for these vary from one state to another, established for each state by that state’s constitution. In my current home state of Massachusetts, the difference between the state house and senate is similar to one of the differences between the U.S. House and Senate, and I think the same is true for other states. That one difference is that states have fewer (and larger) senate districts than house districts, so the senates are smaller. Here, for example, there are 160 state representatives and only 40 state senators. But state senate districts, like the state and federal house districts, are designed to have roughly equal populations. If state senates were more like the U.S. Senate, they might consist, for example, of two state senators from each county, regardless of the county’s population. I don’t think there are any states that do it like that.

Well Pumpking my dear fellow, I have read your explanation but regret that I am none the wiser.

About what?

  Based on a rather well know quotation, a correct comment would have been something more along the lines of:   “None the wiser perhaps, but certainly better informed!”   http://funadvice.com/r/16caqfbg9ha    

Ah, then my mission here has succeeded {;^)

Absolutely!