Glossary on the Republic

Whip

Union

The person who keeps a political party voting together is named after the man who kept the hounds from running off during a fox hunt.

In English fox hunting, the whipper-in was the rider whose job was to keep the pack of hounds together, using a whip to drive back any dog that strayed from the chase. Keep the pack united, keep it on the scent.

British politicians borrowed the image in the 1700s. The statesman Edmund Burke, in 1769, spoke of the government having whipped-in its supporters for an important debate. The party needed its members present and voting as a bloc, just like hounds kept in the pack.

The role became formal. A party whip counts the votes in advance, tells members how the leadership wants them to vote, and makes sure they actually show up to do it. In Britain a rebel can even lose the whip, meaning suspension from the party.

America imported the office. The first Democratic whip, Oscar Underwood of Alabama, was appointed in 1899, and Republicans soon followed. Today the whip is among the highest-ranking leaders in both the House and the Senate, second only to the floor leader.

Origin

From the fox-hunting whipper-in, who kept hounds from straying; borrowed into British politics in the 1700s.

Why it matters

The whip is the enforcer of party discipline, the link between the leaders and the rank and file. The name is a small, honest confession about how legislatures really work. Left alone, members scatter like hounds. Someone has to keep the pack together, and the job is named for exactly that.