Sheldon Whitehouse is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2007 as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1993 to 1998 as the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island and from 1999 to 2003 as the 71st attorney general of Rhode Island. In 2006, he was elected to the Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee. He was reelected in 2012, 2018, and 2024.