chris van hollen is considered one of the democratic party's top strategists.  | ap photo by kevin robillard and elana schor 11/18/16 01:54 pm est maryland sen.-elect chris van hollen will chair the democratic senatorial campaign committee for the next election cycle, putting the newly elected senator on the front lines of the democratic party's fight to keep hold of senate seats in heavily republican territory in 2018. van hollen, who defeated rep. donna edwards in an april primary and then cruised to a general election victory in november, is considered one of the democratic party's top strategists. while it's unusual for a freshman senator to assume such an important position in the caucus, van hollen has valuable political experience from leading the dccc in the 2008 and 2010 elections. story continued below incoming senate minority leader chuck schumer (d-n.y.) praised van hollen, who served in the house for over a decade, as "our first choice." "the map is tough for democrats, but i have no doubt that sen.-elect van hollen is up to the task,<u+201d> schumer said in a statement. "democrats in the senate are the last line of defense between president-elect [donald] trump and washington republicans, and so many of the values and priorities that americans hold dear," van hollen said, adding that he would also be taking retiring sen. barbara mikulski 's (d-md.) seat on the appropriations committee. van hollen faces an intimidating map in 2018. republicans are only defending one senate seat in a state democrat hillary clinton won, while a slew of democratic-held seats are up for grabs in states where president-elect donald trump triumphed, including in indiana, missouri, montana, north dakota and west virginia as well as states like florida, michigan, ohio, pennsylvania and wisconsin. during van hollen's first term as leader of the dccc in 2008, house democrats picked up 21 seats. he stayed on for what proved a devastating 2010 cycle for democrats, when the party lost more than 60 seats and control of the house. democrats, who picked up two senate seats on election day, had no clear choice for who would lead the senate committee. delaware sen. chris coons and hawaii sen. brian schatz were also considered for the job. republicans selected colorado sen. cory gardner to lead the nrsc in the 2018 elections. by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
van hollen to serve as dscc chair - politico
kevin robillard elana schor michael grunwald