Path to Power
Schumer grew up in Brooklyn with his parents and two siblings. The son of a pest exterminator, he excelled in school, graduating first in his high school class and scoring a 1600 on his SATs.
When he didn’t make the basketball team at Harvard, he agreed to travel with the Young Democrats to campaign for Eugene McCarthy. He fell in love with politics in New Hampshire, switching his major from organic chemistry to political science.
After college, he headed straight to Harvard Law School. On the car ride home from his graduation, he told his parents that he was planning on turning down a position with a prestigious law firm to run for New York Assembly. They protested, but Schumer was, as usual, determined.
Schumer launched his campaign from home, and though his mother urged her friends to vote against him, he won. At 23, he became the youngest member of the New York legislature since Theodore Roosevelt.
When a U.S. House seat opened in 1980, Schumer won the position. In Washington, Schumer focused on passing gun control laws like the Brady Bill, which required a mandatory waiting period for all handgun purchases. Republicans allowed the measure to expire in 2004.
In 1998, he launched his Senate campaign, taking on the powerful Republican Alfonse D’Amato. It was a risky move – D’Amato had easy access to donor dollars and a reputation as an entrenched party boss. The campaign was fierce, and fiercely negative, with the candidates attacking each other’s records and integrity.
The race was a dead-heat until mid-October, when D’Amato called Schumer a “putzhead” in front of a Jewish group. The comment caused an outcry and pushed Schumer ahead in the polls. He ultimately won 55 percent to 44 percent.
Schumer raised almost $12 million for his next race, and won handily, garnering 71 percent of the vote. He carried 61 of the 62 counties, losing only Hamilton County despite repeated visits. Of the race, he joked “the problem in Hamilton was that I had met each of the voters personally.”
Schumer considered a run for governor against former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2006, but was talked out of it by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who offered Schumer a seat on the Senate Finance Committee and the DSCC chairmanship.
Schumer threw himself into the job, outraising his Republican opponents by more than $30 million. He convinced older Democrats not to retire and recruited centrist opponents like Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who opposes abortion rights and Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), a Vietnam veteran. He supervised his candidates vigilantly and required final approval over the picks for campaign manager, finance director and communications director. He even instructed them to hold splashy “Chuck Schumer” press conferences on Sunday afternoons.
His efforts paid off big-time, netting the Democrats six seats and the majority. Reid was so delighted that he appointed him to the job again for the 2008 elections. Schumer was also appointed Democratic Caucus vice-chair, a new position which allows him to help to shape the party's message.
In 2008, the Democrats picked up seven seats in the Senate. They may even win one more - a recount is still being conducted in Minnesota. In November, Schumer announced that he was retiring from this position. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)will filll his shoes.
