Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell elected Senate minority, majority leaders

Senate Republicans also elected their leadership, again backing Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as the majority leader.

Sanders declined to comment on whether Schumer’s Wall Street ties would hamper his ability to lead Democrats.

Schumer’s facility with the media led to the Washington cliche that the most unsafe place in the city was between him and a camera, but in recent years he has refashioned his image and spent less time in television green rooms.

The Vermont senator who earned 12 million votes in his insurgent primary bid against Hillary Clinton is settling back into Washington on a mission to reform the Democratic Party into a grassroots entity. Elizabeth Warren to more corporate friendly members like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, hint that he may indeed be trying to have his cake and eat it too.

“If anyone has any ideas, let me know”, he said Thursday of his new role.

Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, was named to a new “Chair of Outreach” position. “It’s going to be very, very painful and very, very hard for a lot of Minnesotans, because they’re going to be told by the Legislature that they don’t count, and they don’t matter and who they are aren’t welcomed in this state”. John Thune was re-elected chairman of the Republican Senate Conference, Missouri Sen.

Mulvaney is in the tea party-leaning House Freedom Caucus, which has frequently rebelled against GOP leaders.

“These bills are going to be heard and they’re going to be passed and they’re going to be put on the governor’s desk”, Dibble said. Baker. “He’s got to pick his fights very judiciously”.

Not all Democrats believe Republicans will follow through on those threats.

But in Schumer, Democrats also possess a megaphone, and a contrast to the soft-spoken Machiavellian Reid, who was more of an inside player.

Charles “Chuck” Ellis Schumer is a Harvard College and Harvard Law School graduate. But with Trump’s stunning victory last week, he will have to deal with a Republican in the White House and both houses of Congress under Republican control. Chuck Schumer of NY was chosen to be the next Senate minority leader, succeeding retiring Sen. “I think that’s a shame”.

Others members of Schumer’s team include Sen. He has a particularly good relationship with Sen. People in his home state “were mad”, he said. Patty Murray, D-Wash., would push Durbin from the No. 2 job, called the “whip”.

“I’d rather go to jail than sign my name to a Muslim registry”, he said, referring to a proposal Trump announced in November 2015 involving implementing a database of Muslim Americans to prevent terrorism. Just Chuck says things that aren’t racist.

Shumer continued “That is a heavy responsibility”, he told reporters. “And he comes from New York” so “it can get kind of ugly”, Graham said. McConnell is expected to be a key legislative partner for the incoming Trump administration. That move paid dividends when Trump was elected.

The other area where Democrats might well find themselves powerless is the Supreme Court. They could use the filibuster to block an unacceptably conservative nominee.

SIEGEL: What’s the message to young voters who turned in unusually high numbers to third-party candidates this year?