WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats elected their caucus leaders in Tuesday’s closed-door elections, lifting Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to No. 3 and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker to No. 4.
Klobuchar will replace retiring Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow as chairwoman of the influential Steering and Policy Committee.
“I am a person who believes that you have to not stay the way you are, but also find common ground and look for solutions,” Klobuchar said during Tuesday’s press conference.
Booker has joined the leadership team in a newly created position as chair of the Strategic Communications Committee.
“I look forward to serving not only this club, but really the broader mission of moving our country forward and advancing an agenda that is truly focused on Americans,” Booker said.
Illinois State Sen. Dick Durbin was re-elected as the party’s No. 2 Democrat.
Chuck Schumer of New York was unanimously elected Democratic leader, according to a Senate Democratic aide. Schumer has been the Democratic leader since 2017, following the retirement of the tardy Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
“Our caucus has led the way in passing historic legislation that has improved the lives of millions of Americans, and we remain focused on tackling the most pressing challenges facing our country,” Schumer said in a statement after the election.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us – in the Senate and as a country – and in the coming Congress, our caucus will continue to fight for what is best for the American working class. “Senate Democrats stand ready to work for you, the American people,” he continued.
Change of control
The party’s leadership elections came as Democrats lost their slim majority in the Senate and Republicans won four seats in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia last month. Republicans will be the majority, 53-47.
Despite losing control of the upper house when the novel Congress convenes in January, Schumer said Democrats would strive to work bipartisanly.
“As I have long said, our preference is to provide bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to work with our Republican colleagues to help working families,” Schumer said. “However, our Republican colleagues should not be mistaken, we will always defend our values.”
“We Defeated Gravity”
Klobuchar said she will miss her Senate colleagues, such as Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana, who defeated their respective candidates in the election.
But she said Democrats still won tough races in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, which she attributed to Schumer’s efforts.
“When we look at this election, in many ways,” Klobuchar said, pausing intentionally before continuing, “we defied gravity.”
She then looked around the room and asked reporters what she meant, until one of them muttered, “Wicked.”
“It’s true, we defied gravity,” said Klobuchar, proud of her pop culture reference to a song from the newly released film “Wicked.”
“And that’s what we’re going to continue to do, reach out to those people in our country, those voters who maybe didn’t hear us as well as they should have, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m so excited to be working with Cory (Booker),” Klobuchar said.
The co-vice-chairmen of the conference included Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Mark Warner of Virginia.
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin was elected Secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference, and Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto was elected Vice Chair of Outreach. The chairman of Outreach is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Last updated at 16:44, December 3, 2024
