Candy Desk
United States Senate tradition since 1968
The Candy Desk has been a tradition of the United States Senate since 1965, whereby a Republican senator who sits at a particular desk near a busy entrance keeps a drawer full of candy for members of the body. The current occupant of the candy desk is Oklahoma Senator Alan Armstrong since 2026.
In 1965, California's George Murphy joined the Senate, and kept candy in his desk for himself and his colleagues, despite eating being prohibited on the Senate floor. When he left the Senate after a six-year term, other Republican senators maintained the custom. The tradition did not become publicly known until the mid-1980s, when Washington Senator Slade Gorton revealed it in announcing that he would be sitting at the candy desk.
Aside from Murphy, a total of 18 senators have maintained the candy desk tradition, including John McCain, Harrison Schmitt, and Rick Santorum, who stocked it with confectionery from his home state of Pennsylvania, including from the Hershey Chocolate Company. After Santorum left the Senate in 2007, the candy desk was maintained by a number of senators for a short time each, before Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey kept the desk from 2015 to 2023.
History
George Murphy was elected as the senator from California in 1964, to take office the following year. Murphy, known as a song-and-dance man from musicals such as Broadway Melody of 1938, Broadway Melody of 1940 and For Me and My Gal, had a taste for sweets. A short time after joining the Senate, he began keeping candy in his desk.
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