Senate Democrats on Tuesday re-elected Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) to serve another two years as the Senate Democratic leader and promoted Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to the third-ranking leadership position, replacing retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).
Schumer in a statement said he was “honored and humbled to be chosen by my colleagues to continue leading Senate Democrats during this crucial period for our country.”
“Our caucus has led the way in passing historic legislation that has improved the lives of millions of Americans and we remain laser focused on addressing the most pressing challenges facing our country,” he said.
The conference voted unanimously to approve the new leadership team for the 119th Congress, showing resolve to remain unified despite their disappointing performance in the 2024 election, which cost them four Senate seats, including those held by longtime Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
Democrats also lost the seat held by Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), who became an independent this year. Manchin did not seek reelection.
Senate Democrats re-elected Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to serve another term and whip and promoted Klobuchar to chair of the Senate Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.
Klobuchar moves up to the third-ranking Senate Democratic leadership slot, replacing Stabenow who has served as the chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has been promoted to the 4th-ranking Senate Democratic leadership position as chair of the newly created Strategic Communications Committee.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) will remain vice chairs of the Senate Democratic conference.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will remain chair of outreach and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) will remain vice chair of outreach.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) will continue serving as Senate Democratic conference secretary and Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will serve as deputy Democratic conference secretaries.
Schumer said the new Democratic leadership team will work with Republicans when possible but will be ready to stand firm on issues viewed as important matters of principle.
“As I have long said, our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families. However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values,” Schumer said.
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