Who's your favorite US Senator of all time?

[TDAS04]

I have to go with Charles Sumner (R-MA).

[President Johnson]

Excluding the ones who rose to higher ranks: Frank Church (D-ID)

[Del Tachi]

John C. Stennis

[Santander]

Jesse Helms

[The Dowager Mod]

Rebecca Latimer Felton.

[Big Abraham]

Ben Wade

[SWE]

Charles Sumner is the right answer

[Ancestral Republican]

Robert La Folette

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

John C. Stennis

What is wrong with you, man?

[TDAS04]

John C. Stennis

Racist

Jesse Helms

More racist

Rebecca Latimer Felton.

Most racist

[MarkD]

Jeff Bingaman.

Not that I agree with his politics, but he was probably the smartest man in the Senate, and he certainly was not an egotist who sought media attention like all the other Senators do.

[Beet]

Daniel Inouye

His bravery during World War II was remarkable.

[Kuumo]

Hubert Humphrey. Dedicated fighter for civil rights and the labor movement and probably one of the best Presidents we never had.

[Santander]

John C. Stennis

What is wrong with you, man?

He was a great servant of Mississippi and one of the most prominent Senators of post-war America?

[Big Abraham]

John C. Stennis

Racist

Jesse Helms

More racist

Rebecca Latimer Felton.

Most racist

Do y'all actually have any unique criticisms any more, or is this it?

Not that I particularly like the Senators described above, but come on. Felton, for example, was a champion of prison reform, women's suffrage, educational modernisation, equal pay for equal work, etc. Oh but she was racist (totally unheard of for a Southerner in the 1920s) so this of course completely negates anything else she's ever done, right?

[WD]

Scoop Jackson.

[SWE]

John C. Stennis

Racist

Jesse Helms

More racist

Rebecca Latimer Felton.

Most racist

Do y'all actually have any unique criticisms any more, or is this it?

Not that I particularly like the Senators described above, but come on. Felton, for example, was a champion of prison reform, women's suffrage, educational modernisation, equal pay for equal work, etc. Oh but she was racist (totally unheard of for a Southerner in the 1920s) so this of course completely negates anything else she's ever done, right?

"Woman who advocated mass lynchings was ok because she did other did things too" is quite the hill to die on

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Theodore Bilbo.

He championed education and public works projects.

[Del Tachi]

John C. Stennis

What is wrong with you, man?

Stennis was a powerful advocate for Mississippi, our military and the space program.  Like many Southern Democrats, he was opposed to the major civil rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s, but he rehabbed himself later in his career.  He voted to support the extension of the VRA in 1982, was important in sinking the nomination of Robert Bork, and even campaigned for Mike Espy during his 1986 Congressional campaign (Espy would become the first Black congressman from MS since Reconstruction). 

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

John C. Stennis

What is wrong with you, man?

Stennis was a powerful advocate for Mississippi, our military and the space program.  Like many Southern Democrats, he was opposed to the major civil rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s, but he rehabbed himself later in his career.  He voted to support the extension of the VRA in 1982, was important in sinking the nomination of Robert Bork, and even campaigned for Mike Espy during his 1986 Congressional campaign (Espy would become the first Black congressman from MS since Reconstruction). 

And despite all the segregationism, that's good enough for you to see him not just as a good senator, but as the best senator of all time.

[Arson Plus]

Jefferson Davis

He was a Senator and a President of another country, and he fought in the Mexican-American War.

[Del Tachi]

John C. Stennis

What is wrong with you, man?

Stennis was a powerful advocate for Mississippi, our military and the space program.  Like many Southern Democrats, he was opposed to the major civil rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s, but he rehabbed himself later in his career.  He voted to support the extension of the VRA in 1982, was important in sinking the nomination of Robert Bork, and even campaigned for Mike Espy during his 1986 Congressional campaign (Espy would become the first Black congressman from MS since Reconstruction). 

And despite all the segregationism, that's good enough for you to see him not just as a good senator, but as the best senator of all time.

Not the best, my favorite.  See OP. 

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

John C. Stennis

What is wrong with you, man?

Stennis was a powerful advocate for Mississippi, our military and the space program.  Like many Southern Democrats, he was opposed to the major civil rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s, but he rehabbed himself later in his career.  He voted to support the extension of the VRA in 1982, was important in sinking the nomination of Robert Bork, and even campaigned for Mike Espy during his 1986 Congressional campaign (Espy would become the first Black congressman from MS since Reconstruction). 

And despite all the segregationism, that's good enough for you to see him not just as a good senator, but as the best senator of all time.

Not the best, my favorite.  See OP. 

Well, I think it would be weird for the two to be different.

[HisGrace]

James Monroe. Barry Goldwater for someone modern who was there a significant period of time.

[VPH]

I can't just pick one. George Norris, Estes Kefauver, Henry Clay, Robert Marion La Follette, Daniel Webster, William Proxmire, Fred Harris, Tom Harkin.