washington<u+2014>senate democrats on wednesday elected sen. charles schumer of new york as their next leader and expanded their highest ranks to include more lawmakers from both the party<u+2019>s more liberal and centrist wings. in a nod to the party<u+2019>s losses in last week<u+2019>s elections, mr. schumer said he was bringing in more lawmakers to leadership who represent the full spectrum of its voters, including sen. bernie sanders (i., vt.), who resonated with liberal voters in the democratic presidential primary, as well as sen. joe manchin of west virginia, a centrist democrat up for re-election in 2018. sen. tammy baldwin of wisconsin, where residents backed republicans last week, also is joining the ranks of leadership. the additions are aimed at amplifying the voice of lawmakers who represent both the diverse coalition of minority and younger voters who elected president barack obama for two terms, as well as the white working-class voters whose defections to the gop helped install republican donald trump in the white house next year. <u+201c>when you lose an election like this, you can<u+2019>t flinch, you can<u+2019>t ignore it. you need to look it right in the eye and ask why, analyze it and learn from it,<u+201d> mr. schumer said. he acknowledged the debate going on among democrats as to whether the party should move in the direction of <u+201c>the diverse obama coalition or the blue-collar american in the heartland.<u+201d> instead of training their energies on one group, democrats need to address the country<u+2019>s broader economic anxieties, he said. the message from voters last week was that <u+201c>they felt that the government wasn<u+2019>t working for them, they felt the economy was rigged against them in many places, and that the government was too beholden to big money and special interests,<u+201d> mr. schumer said. he emphasized that democrats would be proffering a <u+201c>sharper-edged<u+201d> economic message to voters aimed at dismantling an unfair system stacked against the middle class. senate minority whip dick durbin of illinois remained in his post as the second-ranking democrat, while sen. patty murray of washington assumes a new title as the assistant minority leader. it wasn<u+2019>t immediately clear how her role would change. she remains the third-ranking senate democrat. <u+2018> when you lose an election like this, you can<u+2019>t flinch, you can<u+2019>t ignore it. you need to look it right in the eye and ask why, analyze it and learn from it. <u+2019> other members of democratic leadership include sens. elizabeth warren of massachusetts, debbie stabenow of michigan, mark warner of virginia and amy klobuchar of minnesota. all of the leadership decisions were decided by acclamation in a voice vote in a closed-door meeting wednesday. democrats are also shuffling some of their top committee posts. sen. patrick leahy of vermont will become the top democrat on the appropriations committee following the retirement at year<u+2019>s end of sen. barbara mikulski of maryland, who holds that role. sen. dianne feinstein of california will become the top democrat on the judiciary committee, a move that will put her at the center of a looming fight over confirmation of mr. trump<u+2019>s nominee to the supreme court. the high court has had a vacancy since justice antonin scalia died in february. senate republicans refused to consider mr. obama<u+2019>s nominee to the supreme court, federal appeals-court judge merrick garland, saying it should be up to the next president to fill that seat. republicans also re-elected sen. mitch mcconnell of kentucky as their majority leader by acclamation on wednesday. two senators who benefited from his work to retain control of the senate<u+2014> marco rubio of florida and sen.-elect todd young of indiana made the motions to nominate mr. mcconnell and second the nomination. write to kristina peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com and siobhan hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com
senate democrats elect charles schumer as leader - wsj
kristina peterson siobhan hughes