Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) celebrated the news that his party will retain control of the body as a “victory and a vindication” for Democrats.
Schumer made the comments in a brief press conference after Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) was declared the winner in her reelection race, thus handing Democrats control of the Senate and making him majority leader for the next Congress. The top Senate Democrat argued that his party keeping control of the upper chamber of Congress was “a great win for the American people,” who he said voted to reject Republicans’ positions on abortion and protecting democracy.
DEMOCRATS HOLD SENATE MAJORITY IN MIDTERM ELECTIONS STUNNER
“Because the American people turned out to elect Democrats in the Senate, there’s now a firewall against the nationwide abortion ban threat that so many Republicans have talked about,” Schumer said, “But finally, and maybe most important of all, the American people rejected — soundly rejected — the anti-democratic, authoritarian, nasty, and divisive direction that MAGA Republicans wanted to take our country in.”
The Senate majority leader credited his party’s victories this midterm cycle to three things: having “terrific” general election candidates, Democrats’ “agenda and our accomplishments,” and that voters were rejecting the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.
Schumer called Cortez Masto, Sen.-elect John Fetterman (D-PA), and Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) “fine human beings who really care about people, who have the understanding of how to get things done.”
In a reference to the GOP opponents who faced those Democrats, the Senate leader said: “Contrast our candidates with some of the people they ran against. Our strong candidates beat some very flawed challengers, who had no faith in democracy, no fidelity to the truth, or honor.”
“As the MAGA Republicans stoked fear and division, Democrats were talking about how we delivered on issues that matter to people,” Schumer said while explaining what he thought experts misunderstood while trying to predict what would happen this midterm season. “I think one thing the pundits and prognosticators missed was that in all the incendiary ads that blanketed the airwaves for weeks, people knew that Democrats were getting things done for them.”
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Schumer closed his remarks by praising those individuals and groups that helped the party this cycle, during which he honored his predecessor, the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) after Cortez Masto’s home-state win.
“My friend Harry Reid — he may be gone, but he’s still with us,” Schumer said of the former Senate majority leader, who died in December of last year. “His legacy in Nevada continues to shine as bright as lights on the Vegas strip.”
