U.S. Senators, as one might surmise, rarely pass up an opportunity to tout their home states – what businesses are based there, what products are made there – and that trait is on display in an unusual place. It’s at a spot in the back of the Senate chamber, known as the “candy desk.”

The history of the U.S. Senate’s candy desk goes back to 1965. Donald Ritchie, the head of the Senate Historical Office, says Sen. George Murphy (R-CA), “an old song-and-dance man,” had a sweet tooth.

“Sen. Murphy filled his desk drawer with candies, which he dipped into,” Ritchie says. “And then he invited his colleagues to stop whenever they wanted to.”

Murphy lost his seat in 1970, but the tradition continued. The desk, which is right by the main door to the Senate chamber, currently belongs to Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL). “You have a chance to sell your state’s products there,” he says. “Or talk about stuff.”

Today, it is chock full of candies manufactured in the Land of Lincoln. For Kirk, a fan of Chicago’s Ferrara Candy Company, it’s personal.

“They offered me all of the desks on the Republican side, and I wanted to make sure that those bastards in Hershey, Penn., couldn’t get the candy desk,” he says, laughing.

Kirk is referring, of course, to the Hershey Candy Company, which had a monopoly on senators’ sweets for years. The desk used to belong to Rick Santorum, and the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania filled it with Kit Kats and Kisses.

I asked all 100 senators to name their favorite candies, and they all seem partial to what is manufactured back home. New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen likes dark chocolate salted caramels from Granite State Candy, for instance. Georgia’s Jonny Isakson likes Snickers, which include, he points out, Georgia peanuts.

The desk has suited some senators better than others. George Voinovich represented Ohio, a state not known for its confections. So, his tenure at the candy desk didn’t last long. “I think it was one year,” he recalls. “That was enough.”

George LeMieux used to sit at the desk. “I used to joke that it was an unfunded mandate that I had to provide candy for the rest of my senators,” he says. “But I was happy to do so.”

Kirk, the man currently charged with filling the candy desk’s drawers, likes Jelly Belly-brand jelly beans, and there are plenty of those in the candy desk, but he also stocks it with baby aspirin. He had a stroke in 2012, and a small daily dose of the pain killer, he tells his colleagues and constituents, can prevent strokes and heart attacks.

While this means there is less room for Illinois candy, Kirk is able to draw attention to another constituent: the company that makes the aspirin is based outside of Chicago.



The preferred candies of your elected officials

They may not be in charge of the candy desk, but we wanted to know anyway: What are your senator’s favorite sweets? Below, a yearbook of the candies that melt hearts and minds:

Tammy Baldwin D-Wisconsin Ghiradelli Intense Dark 72% Cacao Twilight Delight Singles

Richard Blumenthal D-Connecticut Wint-O-Green Life Savers

Roy Blunt R-Missouri No comment

John Boozman R-Arkansas Jelly Belly jelly beans

Sherrod Brown D-Ohio Milky Way

Ben Cardin D-Maryland Goetze’s Original Vanilla Caramel Creams

Tom Carper D-Delaware York Peppermint Pattie

Bob Casey D-Pennsylvania Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars

Tom Coburn R-Oklahoma Hot Tamales

Thad Cochran R-Mississippi Chocolate covered peanuts

Susan Collins R-Maine Maine maple sugar candy

Mike Crapo R-Idaho Snickers

Dick Durbin D-Illinois Dark Chocolate Snickers

Mike Enzi R-Wyoming Big Hunk

Dianne Feinstein D-California See’s Candies Dark Chocolate

Jeff Flake R-Arizona 3 Musketeers

Kirsten Gillibrand D-New York No candy

Tom Harkin D-Iowa Brach’s Hard Candy

Orrin Hatch R-Utah Jelly beans

Martin Heinrich D-New Mexico Dark chocolate with sea salt

Dean Heller R-Nevada Cinnamon bears

Mazie Hirono D-Hawaii Snickers

John Hoeven R-North Dakota Life Savers Gummies

Johnny Isakson R-Georgia Snickers

Ron Johnson R-Wisconsin Milky Way

Tim Johnson D-South Dakota Chocolate

Tim Kaine D-Virginia No candy, Dr. Pepper

Angus King I-Maine Peppermint

Mark Kirk R-Illinois Jelly Belly jelly beans

Mary Landrieu D-Louisiana Snickers

Patrick Leahy D-Vermont Anything chocolate

Mike Lee R-Utah Jelly beans

Joe Manchin D-West Virginia Peanuts

Ed Markey D-Massachusetts Milky Way Dark

Mitch McConnell R-Kentucky No candy

Robert Menendez D-New Jersey Dark Chocolate M&M’s

Barbara Mikulski D-Maryland No candy

Jerry Moran R-Kansas Peanut M&M’s

Chris Murphy D-Connecticut Twix

Patty Murray D-Washington Dark chocolate peanut butter cups

Bill Nelson D-Florida None

Rand Paul R-Kentucky Snickers

Jack Reed D-Rhode Island Baby Ruth

Harry Reid D-Nevada Nuts

James Risch R-Idaho Butterfinger

Jay Rockefeller D-West Virginia Baby Ruth

Marco Rubio R-Florida No comment

Bernie Sanders I-Vermont No comment

Brian Schatz D-Hawaii Cinnamon hard candy

Chuck Schumer D-New York Snickers

Jeanne Shaheen D-New Hampshire Red licorice and chocolate salted caramels from Granite State Candy

Jon Tester R-Montana Butterfinger

John Thune R-South Dakota Twin Bing

Pat Toomey R-Pennsylvania 3 Musketeers

Mark Udall D-Colorado Toffee from Enstrom Candies (Grand Junction, CO)

Tom Udall D-New Meixco Dark chocolate spiced with New Mexico red chile

John Walsh D-Montana Baby Ruth and Milky Way Midnight

Elizabeth Warren D-Massachusetts Mounds

Sheldon Whitehouse D-Rhode Island Milky Way Dark

Ron Wyden D-Oregon Milk chocolate