Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) as the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate as the party retreats to the minority after four years in power.
In a closed-door meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday, Senate Democrats chose Klobuchar to chair the Steering and Policy Committee, the third-ranking spot for the 119th Congress.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), vice chairman of the Policy and Communications Committee, had expressed interest in Klobuchar’s post, but he agreed to take the No. 4 position in Senate leadership, avoiding the prospect of a contested election.
He will lead a new role as chairman of the Strategic Communications Committee.
The election does not mark a seismic shake-up like that seen with Senate Republicans, who elected a new leader, Sen. John Thune (R-SD), for the first time in almost 18 years.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the top-ranking Democrat, will continue as minority leader next year, while his deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), was elected to another term as Democratic whip.
But it does clear the way for younger members of the Senate to ascend the leadership ranks. Klobuchar, 64, is a decade younger than Stabenow, who will retire at the end of the year. Booker is 55.
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Elsewhere on the ballot, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) will remain vice chairpeople of the conference; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will remain chairman of outreach, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) as his vice chairwoman; and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will remain conference secretary, with Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) as her deputies.
All positions were unanimously approved in a conferencewide vote.
For Klobuchar, elected to a fourth term representing Minnesota in November, the leadership race reflects her rising stock within the Democratic Party. She mounted an unsuccessful run for president in 2020 but has steadily climbed the Senate ranks since her arrival in 2007.
In terms of committee assignments, she is also a front-runner to replace Stabenow as the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, tasked with negotiating a sweeping bill that covers food stamps and farm assistance. She has been the top Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee since 2017.
Booker arrived in the Senate six years later, in 2013. He became the senior senator from New Jersey following the resignation of former Sen. Bob Menendez, who was convicted on corruption charges over the summer.
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The leadership election comes almost a full month since Democrats lost the Senate and White House in a blistering defeat that propelled President-elect Donald Trump back to the Oval Office.
Senate Democrats hold a 51-49 majority, but next year, they will only hold 47 seats.
Schumer is spending his final days as majority leader pushing the remainder of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees across the Senate floor.
In the new year, he will be leading the opposition to a Republican agenda that includes energy reform and the reauthorization of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
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Thune, the incoming majority leader, is replacing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has led Senate Republicans since 2007. McConnell will continue serving as a rank-and-file member, though with considerable sway as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) will serve as Thune’s GOP whip, with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) assuming the No. 3 role of Republican Conference chairman.