The long-established Democratic leadership team in the Senate is facing a big shake-up.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement that he will retire opened the Senate’s top Democratic position for the first time in more than a decade.
The spot appears to have been filled, with Reid’s quick endorsement of his number-three Democrat, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a prolific fundraiser who has earned the favor of the caucus by helping get many of them elected and re-elected.
While Schumer was crowned the likely successor to Reid, there is far less certainty about who will fill the lower-ranking positions, chiefly the role of assistant Democratic leader and whip, the number-two spot.
The opening could finally elevate newer Senate lawmakers including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois has held the critical number-two post since 2004, playing a pivotal role in setting the Senate schedule when Democrats held the majority from 2007 until 2014 and ensuring the party has the votes to pass or block legislation.
When Reid announced his retirement, Durbin was willing to pass up the top leadership post, acknowledging that Schumer had earned the job partly by running the Senate Democratic fundraising arm from 2005 to 2009, helping Democrats reclaim the majority from Republicans in 2007.
But Durbin risks losing the whip position to the number-four Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who has toiled as conference secretary for eight years.
Durbin has declared he will run for a seventh term as assistant party leader and whip, but notably, neither Reid nor Schumer has endorsed him.
“Sen. Durbin announced on the Friday after Sen. Reid announced he was retiring that he intended to run for the whip position in the next Congress,” a Durbin spokesman told the Washington Examiner. “He spent much of that Friday on the phone with his Democratic colleagues and feels good about his support in the caucus.”
Schumer is not planning on endorsing anyone, according to Democratic aides.
Murray, meanwhile, has said nothing publicly about running but is quietly making calls to caucus members to find out if she has the support to beat Durbin, Democratic lawmakers and aides say.
“I think Sen. Murray is very interested in running,” one connected former aide said.
It’s going to be a long race, potentially exposing Senate Democrats to a public power struggle they are eager to avoid.
“The caucus,” one longtime aide said, “doesn’t want this public debate.”
The jockeying is taking place well before Democrats vote to pick new leaders. Reid doesn’t retire until the end of 2016, and the leadership elections won’t be held until that November.
The race could bring to the public eye some long-simmering tensions within the Democratic leadership team. And the hard feelings are already evident.
Shortly after Reid told top senators about his retirement, Durbin told Schumer that he would back him for leader. Durbin says Schumer in return promised to endorse him for assistant Democratic leader.
But later, Schumer aides signaled he never endorsed Durbin.
Some aides believe Murray may be a better match for Schumer, even though Schumer and Durbin were roommates for more than two decades in a Capitol Hill house.
Murray has earned the respect and trust of many Democratic lawmakers as chief Democratic budget negotiator and head of the caucus’s policy and communications committee.
And she’s a woman.
Even as Senate Democrats promote gender-equality issues, their leadership boasts few highly visible women.
Murray would become the first female Democratic whip in the Senate, and her election would open up higher leadership positions for Warren, who is a strategic policy adviser; Klobuchar, chairwoman of the Democratic steering and outreach committee; or Murray’s conference vice chairwoman, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
