D-Ill in 2026. With longtime Senator Dick Durbin leaving for the coming days, the fight for his coveted role as Senate minority Whip, the second-highest leadership role in the Caucus next to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, will soon begin.
“When the torch has to go through, there’s a point in your career and I’ve reached that point,” Durbin said at a press conference in Springfield on Thursday. “I’m not asking for reelection to this US Senate seat.”
Some names already float for the work of whip. Some of these have the typical voiced senators and others whose quiet policy chops look just as appealing.
One of the candidates mentioned is Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz.
Zeldin grilled by Democrats on climate change, Trump’s stance on EPA hearing carbon emissions
Senators Sheldon White House, Patty Murray and Brian Schatz are considered whip considerations. (Reuters)
Schatz, 52, is his third term, Durbin’s current Chief Deputy Whip and a subcongress secretary, a job that involves communication and strategy for the Senate Democrats.
He is also a top Democrat on the Senate Committee on India Affairs, given the heavy native population of Aloha.
Schatz is active behind the scenes of the Liberal Party, defending hundreds of Trump candidates for his State Department status in response to the president’s efforts to shut down USAID.
A former member of Hawaii’s Green Party, he is also considered a bridge between progressive and mainstream liberals.
Former Senate Mainstay aides Harry Reed (D-Nev.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) told Hill the Hill that it would be difficult to tell how leadership elections will be shut down, but “As far as I know, Senator Shetz seems to be in a pretty good position if he wants to take LEAP.”
Second Senate Democrat Dick Durbin doesn’t seek reelection
D-Wash. , Sen. Patty Murray is sitting at the hearing. (Getty Images)
According to Politico, Sen. Sheldon White House is rumoured to be Durbin’s successor as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The White House raised his profile as another of President Donald Trump’s biggest critics, and regularly produced viral clips with admin candidates at various hearings he sits with.
Another senator mentioned is Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who was third in the presidency until the GOP regained the Senate.
Senator Charles Grassley of R-Iowa currently holds that role, usually held by the longest majority of the senators.
Murray is also a top Democrat on the influential Senate Budget Committee.
Often called “the mom of tennis shoes,” who ran for the Senate as a relative political rookie in 1992, Murray once said that she and others “we entered the US Senate because we were mad.”
According to a biography from the Washington Secretary of State’s office, she saved an education program to save money from budget cuts when she was told, “You can’t make a difference.”
That populist history, along with Murray’s long tenure and intimacy with leadership, could potentially make her a lock to Durbin’s success.
Fox News Digital reached out to Schatz, Whitehouse and Murray for comment but did not immediately respond.
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Durbin was in tears over his decision to retire at a press conference outside the same Springfield home, which announced his first Senate run nearly 30 years ago.
He listened to his dangerous movements to give up “seats in a safe house.”
“So for the past 29 years I have been proven that the decision paid off,” Durbin said.
“I love this job. I think it’s a great job, but I know the reality too.”
Charles Kraitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers the media, politics and culture of Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
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