Chuck Schumer

Chuck Schumer
Official portrait, 2017
Senate Majority Leader
Assumed office
January 20, 2021
WhipDick Durbin
Preceded byMitch McConnell
Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Vice ChairMark Warner
Elizabeth Warren
Preceded byHarry Reid
United States Senator
from New York
Assumed office
January 3, 1999
Serving with Kirsten Gillibrand
Preceded byAl D'Amato
Senate Minority Leader
In office
January 3, 2017 – January 20, 2021
WhipDick Durbin
Preceded byHarry Reid
Succeeded byMitch McConnell
Chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee
In office
January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017
LeaderHarry Reid
Preceded byByron Dorgan
Succeeded byDebbie Stabenow
Chair of the Senate Rules Committee
In office
January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2015
Preceded byDianne Feinstein
Succeeded byRoy Blunt
Vice Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus
In office
January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2017
LeaderHarry Reid
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded by
Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
In office
January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2009
LeaderHarry Reid
Preceded byJon Corzine
Succeeded byRobert Menendez
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1999
Preceded byElizabeth Holtzman
Succeeded byAnthony Weiner
Constituency
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 45th district
In office
January 1, 1975 – December 31, 1980
Preceded byStephen Solarz
Succeeded byDaniel L. Feldman
Personal details
Born
Charles Ellis Schumer

(1950-11-23) November 23, 1950 (age 73)
New York City, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
(m. 1980)
Children2
RelativesAmy Schumer (second cousin once removed)
EducationHarvard University (BA, JD)
Signature
WebsiteSenate website

Charles Ellis Schumer (/ˈʃmər/ SHOO-mər; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since 2021[1] and as a United States senator from New York since 1999. A member of the Democratic Party, he has led the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017 and was Senate Minority Leader from 2017 to 2021. He became New York's senior senator in 2001, on the retirement of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Elected to a fifth Senate term in 2022, Schumer surpassed Moynihan and Jacob K. Javits as the longest-serving U.S. senator from New York. He is the dean of New York's congressional delegation.

A native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Schumer was a three-term member of the New York State Assembly from 1975 to 1980. He served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1999, first representing New York's 16th congressional district before being redistricted to the 10th congressional district in 1983 and 9th congressional district 10 years later. In 1998, Schumer was elected to the Senate, defeating three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato. He was reelected in 2004 with 71% of the vote, in 2010 with 66% of the vote, in 2016 with 70% of the vote, and in 2022 with 56% of the vote.

Schumer chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2005 to 2009, overseeing 14 Democratic gains in the Senate in the 2006 and 2008 elections. He was the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin. He served as Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus in the Senate from 2007 to 2017[2] and chaired the Senate Democratic Policy Committee from 2011 to 2017.[3] Schumer won his fourth term in the Senate in 2016 and was then unanimously elected Democratic leader to succeed Reid, who was retiring.[4][5]

In January 2021, Schumer became Senate Majority Leader, becoming the first Jewish Senate majority leader. As majority leader, Schumer shepherded through the Senate some of the Biden administration's major legislative initiatives, including the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the Respect for Marriage Act. Also under his leadership, the Senate confirmed the most federal judges during the first two years of any presidency since John F. Kennedy's, and the most diverse slate of federal judicial nominations in American history,[6] including Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African American woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

  1. ^ "Sen. Chuck Schumer will be the first Jewish Senate Majority Leader". PBS NewsHour. January 20, 2021. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  2. ^ "Leadership – Senate Democrats". senate.gov. March 11, 2015. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  3. ^ Wong, Scott (November 16, 2010). "Democrats, Republicans reelect Senate leaders". Politico. Archived from the original on September 3, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  4. ^ Yee, Vivian (November 8, 2016). "Chuck Schumer Wins 4th Term in Senate". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  5. ^ O'Keefe, Ed; DeBonis, Mike (November 16, 2016). "Schumer is next top Senate Democrat, adds Sanders to leadership ranks". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  6. ^ Gramlich, John. "Biden has appointed more federal judges than any president since JFK at this point in his tenure". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.

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