After Democrats kept control of the U.S. Senate in the 2022 elections, Murray was elected president pro tempore, the second-highest-ranking official of the body after the vice president, and third in the line of presidential succession. She is also the first woman to hold the position. The position is traditionally filled by the most senior senator of the majority party, who would be
Dianne Feinstein at the start of Congress in 2023, but Feinstein declined the position. Feinstein died on September 29, 2023, upon which Murray became the most senior Democrat.