By Jackson Richman
Contributing Writer
Senate Democrats reelected Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, on Tuesday as their leader and whip, respectively.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, got the third-ranked and fourth-ranked positions in Senate Democrat leadership, respectively.
Klobuchar will chair her party’s Policy and Communications Committee, while Booker will lead the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee. Klobuchar currently holds the latter position.
The Steering and Outreach Committee is “dedicated to fostering dialogue between Senate Democrats and leaders from across the nation,” according to the Senate Democrats website.
The website says the Policy and Communications Committee is “an advisory board to the Democratic Leadership and as a research, policy-formulating, and communications arm of Senate Democrats.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, will succeed Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the party’s Senate campaign and finance arm.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Mark Warner, D-Virginia, were elected vice chairs of the Democratic Conference.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, was elected outreach chairman. Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nevada, was elected outreach vice chair.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, was elected the conference’s secretary. Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, were elected deputy conference secretaries.
None of the leadership positions were contested.
Schumer has been in the Senate since 1999 and in Congress since 1981.
Durbin has been in Congress since 1983 and in the Senate for the past 27 years.
Schumer and Durbin will be Senate minority leader and Senate minority whip, respectively, since the GOP will control the upper congressional chamber beginning in January.
Both Schumer and Durbin have been Senate majority leader and Senate majority whip, respectively, since January 2021. Durbin was also in his current role between 2007 and 2015.
Klobuchar and Booker have been in the Senate since 2007 and 2013, respectively.
Last month, Senate Republicans elected their leaders, with Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, as majority leader, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, as majority whip, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, as conference chairman, and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, as the chair of the party’s Policy Committee, with Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, as its vice chair.
