WASHINGTON — 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:
—Vice Chair of the Conference: Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
—Vice Chair of the Conference: Mark Warner of Virginia.
—Chair of Outreach: Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
—Vice Chair of the DPCC: Joe Manchin III of West Virginia.
—Conference Secretary: Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
—Vice Chair of the DPCC: Cory Booker of New Jersey.
—Vice Chair of Outreach: Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
—Deputy Conference Secretary: Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
