Candy Desk - Other Candy Desks

Other Candy Desks

The Democrats have also had a candy desk since at least 1985. A rolltop desk located on the front wall, belonging to the United States Senate Democratic Conference Secretary, is also filled with sweets. This tradition began "sometime later" than the better known candy desk, and Hershey Kisses were the most popular candy from this desk during the 1980s, "followed by small caramels." Candy for this desk is paid for through a "candy fund" to which senators who would like to partake of the desk's contents contribute. Jay Rockefeller then takes this money and purchases the candy. This tradition is not widely known; in fact, it is so little-known that the Historian of the United States Senate does not know much about it.

Other senators sometimes keep candy in their desks as well. Katherine Buck, a United States Senate Page at the time, wrote the following in 2005:

One senator with a particularly strong hankering for chocolate is Jim Talent from Missouri. Once during a vote, he called people away from the candy desk to his own on the other side of the row. There were oohs and aahs until six people walked away with Russell Stover Low-Carb Chocolates. (I guess the Atkins craze had made its way to the Senate.)