Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, a hard-core liberal, is seen by insiders as a leading contender to succeed the retiring Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois as the Senate Democratic whip in the next Congress.
Schatz has served in the Senate since December 2012 and currently serves in a party leadership role as the chief deputy whip.
Two other Senate Democrats, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Patty Murray of Washington, are also seen by some Senate insiders as potential candidates for the No. 2 position in the Senate Democratic Caucus. Schatz, 52, is thought to be a strong contender given his relative youth. Klobuchar and Murray are 64 and 74, respectively.
If Senate Democrats choose Schatz as their next whip, they would be doubling down on the sort of uber- liberalism that was rejected by voters in the 2024 elections.
Schatz was a proponent of same-sex marriage even before…
