Chuck Schumer is a member of the U.S. Senate from New York. He assumed office on January 3, 1999. His current term ends on January 3, 2029. Senate Democrats unanimously elected Schumer as Senate minority leader in November 2016. On January 20, 2021, he became Senate majority leader after Vice President Kamala Harris was sworn into office, assuming her role as president — and tie-breaker — of the 50-50 Senate. Schumer was unanimously re-elected as majority leader for the 118th Congress in December 2022, and was elected minority leader for the 119th Congress in December 2024. Schumer was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1950. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in social studies in 1971 and received a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1974. As an undergraduate, he was president of the Harvard Young Democrats. Schumer passed the New York Bar in 1975 but did not practice law. Schumer's first political office was in the New York State Assembly, where he served from 1975 to 1980. In 1980, at age 29, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was re-elected eight times, representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens from 1981 to 1999. In 1998, Schumer won election to the U.S. Senate, defeating three-term incumbent Sen. Alfonse D'Amato 55% to 44%. Before Schumer's election, 1947 was the last year Democrats held both of New York's U.S. Senate seats. As of 2024, Schumer's Senate re-election margins ranged from 14 percentage points in 2022 to 47 percentage points in 2004.
