Chuck Schumer

From Brooklyn to Albany to D.C., Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer has made a life out of politics. Schumer was born Nov. 23, 1950 and raised in Brooklyn, where he attended James Madison High School and graduated as class valedictorian. He then went to Harvard to do his undergraduate studies. It was there where his interest in politics began, as he helped in the presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy in 1968. Schumer then earned his J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School in 1974. After graduating he eschewed a law career and chose politics, getting elected to serve in the New York State Assembly, where he filled a seat that had been held by his mentor, Steve Solarz. In 1980 Schumer married his wife Iris in a ceremony at Windows on the World atop the north tower of the World Trade Center. He became a congressman that year when he was elected to represent the state's 9th Congressional District, which at the time served Brooklyn and Queens. During his 18 years in that seat, his accomplishments included being a leading sponsor of both the Violence Against Women Act and the Brady Bill. In 1998 he was elected to the U.S. Senate and kicked off his first term with a promise to visit each of New York's 62 counties every year, which he has continued to do every year to date. Schumer became the state's senior senator in 2000 upon Daniel Patrick Moynihan's retirement. After his 2004 re-election, Schumer secured a seat on the Senate Finance Committee and became chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which he led for two straight cycles. Schumer was appointed as vice chair of the Democratic Conference, the third-highest position on the Democratic leadership team, after the 2006 elections. He published a book in 2007 that drew from his experience helping his party win the 2006 midterm elections. New York residents re-elected him again in 2010 and 2016. Following that most-recent victory, Schumer's colleagues chose him to serve as the leader of the Democratic caucus, making him the first senator from the Empire State to hold the position. Throughout Schumer's time in the Senate, he has made improving New York's economy - with a focus on upstate - his top priority.