Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell Re-Elected As Senate Leaders

Senate Democrats have re-elected Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to be the Senate’s Democratic leader. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) have also ascended to leadership roles.

Schumer has urged his Republican colleagues to break from President Donald Trump‘s claims that the election is fraudulent.

Republican leaders in Congress should also do the right thing. Republican leaders must unequivocally condemn the president’s rhetoric and work to ensure the peaceful transfer of power on January 20. … Too many, including the Republican leader, have been silent or sympathetic to the president’s fantasies,” Schumer said from the Senate floor yesterday.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have also re-elected Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as the party’s Majority Leader, continuing his streak as the longest-serving GOP leader in the Senate.

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Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) will formally nominate McConnell, according to prepared remarks.

“I’ll conclude by grinning at how Mitch’s critics keep giving him nicknames intended as an insult that he keeps adopting with glee,” Cotton plans to say. “A few weeks ago, someone called him the Apex Predator of American politics, which may be the best yet. I nominate as our leader, the Apex Predator of the United States Senate, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr.”

Republicans are set to start 2021 with a narrow majority. Democrats have a chance to be the majority party in the Senate if they win two Georgia runoffs on January 5.

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.