CHICAGO – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday he is committed to giving Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris a Democratic-held Senate seat if she wins the White House in November.
“She will move America forward, but she needs a Democratic majority in the Senate,” he said in a speech on the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
Schumer told delegates he was confident Democrats would expand their narrow majority in the Senate because of the type of candidates running, such as U.S. Reps. Ruben Gallego in Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland.
“Folks, listen to this,” Schumer said to the packed United Center. “More than half of our candidates are candidates of color. We’re making the Senate look like America.”
Schumer praised Harris’ work in the Senate, where she represented California, and most recently as vice president, winning the tiebreaker for Senate Democrats.
“I saw a fearless leader,” he said of Harris’ time in the Senate.
Because Democrats hold a slim majority in the upper chamber of the Senate, Harris has often been the deciding vote on bills and judicial nominations. Last year, she broke the record for tie-breaking votes.
“She was the best partner the Democrats in the Senate could have asked for,” he said.
And as a sign of unity, independent Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders, who sometimes clashes with the Democrats, spoke after Schumer.
“We are laying the groundwork for Kamala Harris to be our next president,” Sanders said.
Sanders has a forceful working-class voter base, and in 2016 hundreds of his supporters protested against the nomination of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Let us move forward and create the nation we can become,” Sanders said.
In his speech, Sanders praised the Biden-Harris administration for its handling of the coronavirus crisis and passing critical legislation that helped states and local governments recover using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Sanders said he looks forward to working with Harris on a variety of issues, including strengthening public education, raising the minimum wage, passing laws giving workers the right to unionize, raising teacher pay and fighting major corporations in the pharmaceutical, technology and agricultural industries.
“Too many of our fellow Americans struggle every day to make ends meet,” Sanders said.
He also called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian health authorities say more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“We must end this terrible war in Gaza,” he said, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.
Control by the Senate
Michigan Senator Gary Peters appeared before delegates earlier in the evening and pointed out that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, come from middle-class backgrounds and had a similar upbringing to many other Americans.
Peters, the head of the Democratic campaign team for the US Senate, said on Monday that he was not only confident that Harris could win the presidency, but The Senate remains under Democratic control.
The Democrats cannot afford to make any mistakes in the upcoming Senate elections, especially after the resignation of independent Joe Manchin III of West Virginia. For Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, re-election is particularly hard in states that Trump won in 2020.
But Schumer expressed his confidence in incumbent Senate members such as Brown, Tester and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.
“Our candidates are implementing all the great things we did in 2021 and 2022,” he said.
Schumer also criticized former President Donald Trump’s 2024 vice presidential nominee, Ohio Senator JD Vance, and his tenure in the Senate. Schumer criticized Vance for Failure to appear at the vote on the extension of the child allowance.
The second night of the DNC featured a ceremonial roll call for the nomination of Harris and Walz, as well as appearances by leading Democrats such as former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as performances by Patti LaBelle and Common.
A surprise appearance came from rapper Lil Jon at the ceremonial roll call when delegates from the state of Georgia cast their votes. The official vote took place earlier this month.
Harris, who was campaigning in Wisconsin on Tuesday, had some of her remarks there broadcast to the United Center stadium. She thanked delegates for their ceremonial roll call and told them she would see them on Thursday for her acceptance speech.
“This campaign is driven by the people,” she said. “Together we will forge a new path to the future, a future of freedom.”
Illinois Senator discusses IVF
Illinois Democratic State Senator Tammy Duckworth told delegates that she takes access to reproductive health personally, pointing out that the only reason her daughters were born was because of access to in vitro fertilization.
She warned that Republicans would not stop when it came to restricting access to abortion, but that the GOP “will get to IVF next.”
Since the conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, Democrats have been working to restore reproductive rights.
Harris has promised that if elected she would restore the constitutional right to abortion, but passing such a bill would be an uphill battle. Democrats would need to control the House of Representatives but also have 60 votes to overcome the filibuster in the Senate.
Regardless, Schumer told reporters after his speech that restoring access to abortion was a key issue for Democrats.
“Republicans know it’s a losing issue for them,” he said. “And when we have the majority in the House, the Senate and the presidency, we will look at how we can protect women’s right to self-determination and reproductive freedom.”
Jacob Fischler contributed to this story.
