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Senate Democrats set leadership team for 118th Congress

With 51 seats next year, entire Schumer-led slate elected unanimously

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer raises his fist in triumph as he walks with recently reelected Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., outside the Capitol on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer raises his fist in triumph as he walks with recently reelected Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., outside the Capitol on Wednesday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Senate Democrats voted in their full slate of leaders for the 118th Congress on Thursday, two days after securing a 51-seat majority.

Everything went according to plan, with a source in the room saying that Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York and his entire roster were elected unanimously.

Notably, the Democratic caucus also endorsed the nomination of Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to be president pro tempore in the next Congress, breaking from the traditional practice of having the senior member of the majority party in the role. That senator, California’s Dianne Feinstein, passed on the job.

Murray, who will be third in line for the presidency, is ceding the role of assistant majority leader, which the caucus had already voted to eliminate for next year. As such, Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota will slide up in the leadership order behind Schumer and Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill.

Stabenow will be third in the hierarchy as Democratic Policy and Communications Committee chair, with Klobuchar fourth on the list as chair of Steering. About a quarter of the caucus technically holds leadership positions. The incoming chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has not yet been named.

The rest of the list follows:

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