Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer was reelected to his role leading Senate Democrats on Thursday (December 8) morning, a success for the veteran lawmaker, who was elected to the role two years ago.
Schumer’s leadership team was also reelected on Thursday morning. The group includes Senate majority whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Democratic Policy Committee chairwoman Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Democratic Steering Committee Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and chairman of the Democratic Outreach Committee Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), each of whom will be granted second terms.
The only change to Schumer’s leadership team is Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who will replace retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) as Senate president pro tempore.
Following the Democratic caucus’s election, Schumer posed for media pictures with his leadership team in the Senate’s Ohio Clock corridor, telling photographers he was standing with “a great, diverse, hard-working, effective leadership team.”
Schumer also shared with reporters that the meeting was “unified,” adding that everything the Democratic caucus was pleased with everything it had accomplished in the last two years and was “setting strong aspirations” for the next two years.
The vote comes after Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoff confirmed Democrats would be extending their Senate majority to 51 seats, a significant victory that gives the party more wiggle room to pass legislation.
The 117th Congress had also been a success for Senate Democrats, passing a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Inflation Reduction Act — a sweeping economic package to tackle climate change and reform prescription drug pricing — and legislation addressing gun violence.
