The President pro tempore of the Vermont State Senate presides over the body in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor. In addition, the Senate President serves as a member of the Committee on Committees. The Committee on Committees, made up of the Lieutenant Governor, President of the Senate and a State Senator chosen by his or her peers, is responsible for making committee assignments and designating committee chairpersons, vice chairpersons and clerks.
Since 2011 the Senate President has been Senator John F. Campbell of Windsor County. Peter Welch, currently Vermont's member of the United States House of Representatives, served as Senate President from 1985 to 1989 and 2003 to 2007, and was the first Democrat to hold the post. Peter Shumlin, Governor since 2011, served as Senate President from 1997 to 2003 and 2007 to 2011.
From the founding of the Republican Party in the 1850s until the 1960s, only Republicans won statewide offices, and Republicans also controlled both the Vermont Senate and Vermont House of Representatives. As part of the party's Mountain Rule, the post of Senate President, along with that of House Speaker, were used to groom future Governors and Lieutenant Governors. Including Shumlin, nine Governors have served as Senate President (Eaton, Hendee, Redfield Proctor, McCullough, Prouty, Wills, Mortimer Proctor, Emerson, and Shumlin), as have six Lieutenant Governors who did not attain the governorship (Dale, Hinckley, Bates, Farnsworth, Babcock and Racine).