Sen. Schumer to Step Down as Campaign Committee Chairman

Brad Haynes reports on politics. Sen. Charles Schumer is stepping down as chairman of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee, after two elections in which he helped the party win at least 13 new seats and a new majority. When Schumer took the reins of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2006 election cycle, Democrats had spent most of the previous decade in the minority. Democrats seized a narrow majority in that cycle, with six new seats. This year, Democrats claimed at least 58 seats, including two independents who caucus with the party. A Dec. 2 runoff will decide the Senate race in Georgia and a manual recount will determine the victor of a neck-and-neck race in Minnesota. Democratic efforts have benefited in the past two cycles from the more than $240 million that the DSCC has raked in under Schumer, thanks in part to the New York senator’s connections to Wall Street donors. Those links should remain strong if the organization’s current vice chairman, freshman Sen. ... (link)