Sen. Charles Schumer was all but crowned successor to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid Friday, capping nearly a decade of meticulous planning and labor with the top Democratic leadership post in mind.
The ambitious, intensely driven New Yorker made his mark as a shrewd campaign strategist and fundraising rainmaker beginning in 2006, leading his party to a two-cycle sweep of 14 Republican-held Senate seats and the filibuster-proof majority that passed Obamacare. Schumer then moved to reorganize the Democratic caucus in the Senate. At Reid’s behest, he created a one-stop shop to synchronize caucus policy and messaging strategy, as well as boost individual members’ political standing at home.
Throughout, Schumer cultivated the respect and endearment of colleagues, establishing the kind of loyalty that wins insider leadership elections on Capitol Hill. He’s doled out favors as the top Democrat on the obscure Rules and Administration Committee, choosing to retain that post rather than become the ranking Democrat on the powerful Banking Committee. Democrats trust Schumer to protect their personal interests, and consider him their go-to political fixer in the Senate.
“His best skill is finding the sweet spot in the nexus of policy, politics and the press. He’s able to do that better than anyone I’ve seen,” said Jimmy Ryan, a Democratic lobbyist and former Reid aide. “People are often great at one or two of the three. But he gets all of them and pitches them right down the middle of the plate.”
Even before Reid had publicized his decision not to seek re-election in 2016, Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, the number two Senate Democrat, had endorsed Schumer for leader. The Washington Post reported on Friday that Durbin privately offered Schumer his backing early Friday morning, at a marathon voting session on amendments to the Senate’s fiscal 2016 budget resolution was nearing conclusion. Reid publicly backed Schumer later the same day.
Schumer, 64, is the third-ranking Democratic leader, in charge of caucus policy and messaging through the Democratic Policy and Communications Center he created a few years back. But the Brooklyn native and career lawmaker has essentially functioned as Reid’s chief deputy since 2007, following his first of two terms as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during which the party flipped six GOP-held seats on its way to retaking control of the Senate.
Liberal activists are agitating for more progressive leadership. Outside groups Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee both signaled support for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. — if she doesn’t run for president. Democratic sources who monitor their party’s Senate caucus said it’s not inconceivable that Schumer could face a challenger when leadership elections are held, likely after the 2016 elections. But a far-left liberal like Warren wouldn’t threaten Schumer’s ascension.
Democratic insiders told the Washington Examiner that Schumer’s pragmatic style is similar to Reid’s, and boosts him over potential competitors.
Both Schumer and Reid have a talent for working with Democrats as diverse as Warren on the left and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on the right to find a consensus position the caucus can unify behind. It’s that “ideological pragmatism” that helped Schumer leapfrog Durbin as the frontrunner to succeed Reid. Durbin is considered too politically inflexible to beat Schumer in a secret-ballot contest for leader. Durbin plans to seek another term as whip.
“This is a man who is a partisan Democrat, he’s not afraid to be a partisan Democrat, but who has shown an amazing ability to find the middle ground and find the deal,” said Democratic operative Jeffrey Forbes, a founding partner at Forbes Tate and a former Senate aide. “He knows how to count votes and where the votes are, but he also knows when a purple state Democrat has to vote against leadership. He’s not just a New York guy.”
“Schumer is a guy that is a capable dealmaker,” added a New York Republican who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly. “The left him will pull him — Warren and company — no different what they are pulling at Hillary Clinton. The question is when does he give in and when does he hold?”
A Democrat close to Schumer confirmed that the senator spent most of Friday on the phone, placing calls to and receiving calls from Senate Democrats who encouraged him to run for caucus leader. By midday he had received commitments from “an overwhelming majority” of members who said they would support him as Reid’s successor. Indeed, Schumer’s tireless work to stay in touch with his colleagues helped bring about this outcome.
Schumer can usually be seen walking through the Capitol with an antiquated flip-style cell phone pinned to his ear. Members of the congressional press corps sometimes joke that this is Schumer’s way of avoiding having to take questions. But Democrats who know him say he’s usually on the phone with another Democrat dispensing advice of some sort. It’s this tireless personal attention to his colleagues that made his promotion a fait accompli.
During the last election cycle, at a DSCC fundraiser for the committee’s major donors, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., one of half a dozen or so senators in attendance at the event, said admiringly that Schumer calls her all the time and wondered aloud how he could remember her telephone number. When Schumer spoke later on, prodded by those in the room, he rattled off from memory the phone numbers of several of his Democratic Senate colleagues, one after the other.
In an age when 10-digit phone numbers are saved in smart phones, Schumer’s feat made quite an impression. Schumer established his reputation early in his congressional career as a press hound, never afraid of a microphone, and then later, at the DSCC, as a formidable fundraiser. But it’s his attention to detail and relentless work to elevate his colleagues that led him to the doorstep of the leader’s office.
“Sen. Schumer has proven himself to be a tireless advocate for New York State and middle class families, a top communicator, and a pragmatic policy maker. These qualities are not incompatible — to the contrary, they will make him a dynamic Senate Democratic leader,” said Israel Klein, a principal at Podesta Group and former senior aide to Schumer.
