diff --git a/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectService.scala b/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectService.scala
index 13ce2d64256b4..4641bc0a11067 100644
--- a/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectService.scala
+++ b/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectService.scala
@@ -436,6 +436,7 @@ object SparkConnectService extends Logging {
       return
     }
 
+    sessionManager.initializeBaseSession(sc)
     startGRPCService()
     createListenerAndUI(sc)
 
diff --git a/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManager.scala b/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManager.scala
index f28af0379a04c..391f09c884b7b 100644
--- a/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManager.scala
+++ b/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManager.scala
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import scala.util.control.NonFatal
 
 import com.google.common.cache.CacheBuilder
 
-import org.apache.spark.{SparkEnv, SparkSQLException}
+import org.apache.spark.{SparkContext, SparkEnv, SparkSQLException}
 import org.apache.spark.internal.Logging
 import org.apache.spark.internal.LogKeys.{INTERVAL, SESSION_HOLD_INFO}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.classic.SparkSession
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ import org.apache.spark.util.ThreadUtils
  */
 class SparkConnectSessionManager extends Logging {
 
+  // Base SparkSession created from the SparkContext, used to create new isolated sessions
+  @volatile private var baseSession: Option[SparkSession] = None
+
   private val sessionStore: ConcurrentMap[SessionKey, SessionHolder] =
     new ConcurrentHashMap[SessionKey, SessionHolder]()
 
@@ -48,6 +51,16 @@ class SparkConnectSessionManager extends Logging {
       .maximumSize(SparkEnv.get.conf.get(CONNECT_SESSION_MANAGER_CLOSED_SESSIONS_TOMBSTONES_SIZE))
       .build[SessionKey, SessionHolderInfo]()
 
+  /**
+   * Initialize the base SparkSession from the provided SparkContext.
+   * This should be called once during SparkConnectService startup.
+   */
+  def initializeBaseSession(sc: SparkContext): Unit = {
+    if (baseSession.isEmpty) {
+      baseSession = Some(SparkSession.builder().sparkContext(sc).getOrCreate().newSession())
+    }
+  }
+
   /** Executor for the periodic maintenance */
   private val scheduledExecutor: AtomicReference[ScheduledExecutorService] =
     new AtomicReference[ScheduledExecutorService]()
@@ -333,13 +346,7 @@ class SparkConnectSessionManager extends Logging {
   }
 
   private def newIsolatedSession(): SparkSession = {
-    val active = SparkSession.active
-    if (active.sparkContext.isStopped) {
-      assert(SparkSession.getDefaultSession.nonEmpty)
-      SparkSession.getDefaultSession.get.newSession()
-    } else {
-      active.newSession()
-    }
+    baseSession.get.newSession()
   }
 
   private def validateSessionCreate(key: SessionKey): Unit = {
diff --git a/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManagerSuite.scala b/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManagerSuite.scala
index a3d851c1ce7b9..deed5214907ed 100644
--- a/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManagerSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/service/SparkConnectSessionManagerSuite.scala
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfterEach
 import org.scalatest.time.SpanSugar._
 
 import org.apache.spark.SparkSQLException
+import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession
 import org.apache.spark.sql.pipelines.graph.{DataflowGraph, PipelineUpdateContextImpl}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.pipelines.logging.PipelineEvent
 import org.apache.spark.sql.test.SharedSparkSession
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ class SparkConnectSessionManagerSuite extends SharedSparkSession with BeforeAndA
   override def beforeEach(): Unit = {
     super.beforeEach()
     SparkConnectService.sessionManager.invalidateAllSessions()
+    SparkConnectService.sessionManager.initializeBaseSession(spark.sparkContext)
   }
 
   test("sessionId needs to be an UUID") {
@@ -171,4 +173,51 @@ class SparkConnectSessionManagerSuite extends SharedSparkSession with BeforeAndA
       sessionHolder.getPipelineExecution(graphId).isEmpty,
       "pipeline execution was not removed")
   }
+
+  test("baseSession allows creating sessions after default session is cleared") {
+    // Create a new session manager to test initialization
+    val sessionManager = new SparkConnectSessionManager()
+
+    // Initialize the base session with the test SparkContext
+    sessionManager.initializeBaseSession(spark.sparkContext)
+
+    // Clear the default and active sessions to simulate the scenario where
+    // SparkSession.active or SparkSession.getDefaultSession would fail
+    SparkSession.clearDefaultSession()
+    SparkSession.clearActiveSession()
+
+    // Create an isolated session - this should still work because we have baseSession
+    val key = SessionKey("user", UUID.randomUUID().toString)
+    val sessionHolder = sessionManager.getOrCreateIsolatedSession(key, None)
+
+    // Verify the session was created successfully
+    assert(sessionHolder != null)
+    assert(sessionHolder.session != null)
+
+    // Clean up
+    sessionManager.closeSession(key)
+  }
+
+  test("initializeBaseSession is idempotent") {
+    // Create a new session manager to test initialization
+    val sessionManager = new SparkConnectSessionManager()
+
+    // Initialize the base session multiple times
+    sessionManager.initializeBaseSession(spark.sparkContext)
+    val key1 = SessionKey("user1", UUID.randomUUID().toString)
+    val sessionHolder1 = sessionManager.getOrCreateIsolatedSession(key1, None)
+    val baseSessionUUID1 = sessionHolder1.session.sessionUUID
+
+    // Initialize again - should not change the base session
+    sessionManager.initializeBaseSession(spark.sparkContext)
+    val key2 = SessionKey("user2", UUID.randomUUID().toString)
+    val sessionHolder2 = sessionManager.getOrCreateIsolatedSession(key2, None)
+
+    // Both sessions should be isolated from each other
+    assert(sessionHolder1.session.sessionUUID != sessionHolder2.session.sessionUUID)
+
+    // Clean up
+    sessionManager.closeSession(key1)
+    sessionManager.closeSession(key2)
+  }
 }