Senate Democrats voted Wednesday to add Sen. Bernie Sanders into a leadership position in order to tap into the blue-collar voting base that kept them from winning Congress and the White House.
The Vermont Independent who ran as a self-proclaimed socialist against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary managed to attract millions of enthusiastic young voters, and Democrats made it clear they want him to influence the direction of the party in the upper chamber.
“When we lose and election like this, you can’t flinch, you can’t ignore it, you need to look right in the eye and ask why and learn from it,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, the newly elected Democratic leader, said Wednesday. “One thing we know is we heard from the American people loud and clear. They felt that the government wasn’t working for them and they felt the economy was rigged against them.”
In addition to Sanders, Democrats elected Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin to the leadership team, which grew from seven to ten lawmakers.
Manchin and Baldwin represent the rust-belt voters who turned away from Clinton and voted for Trump, whose populist message against trade deals and government regulations helped propel him to victory.
“Adding Bernie, Tammy and Joe to our team shows we can unite the disparate factions of our party and our economy,” said Schumer, who will succeed Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., as minority leader.
Schumer said Democrats decided to expand the team after reflecting on the losses of last week. “We needed a much stronger, sharper, bolder economic message and we needed to let the American people understand what we all believe, that the system is not working for them and we are going to change it,” he said.
The move to placate liberals comes after Schumer faced pushback against his own place in the leadership.
Schumer, of New York, is serving his fourth term and has been criticized by some liberals over his Wall Street ties. A group of activists were arrested for protesting outside his office this week.
But Schumer was elected Democratic leader with no opposition.
Democrats created a new position for their current No. 4 leader, Sen. Patty Murray, of Washington, who will now serve as assistant Democratic leader.
“I believe that there does not have to be a division,” Schumer said, explaining the leadership changes. “In fact, there must not be a division.”
The expanded team, Schumer said, “is ideologically and geographically diverse.”
