3 new Democratic senators are sworn in, overturning control of the Senate

by



[ad_1]

Earlier this month, Georgia elected two Democrats – Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff – to the US Senate, rocking the chamber. Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Ossoff will be joined on Wednesday by Harris’ successor Alex Padilla, the former California Secretary of State appointed to the Senate by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The swearing-in of the three new senators will be revolutionary. Warnock and Ossoff will be the first black and Jewish senators to represent Georgia, respectively, while Padilla will be California’s first Latino senator.

Ossoff, 33, will also be the youngest senator in the chamber and the youngest Democrat to serve in the Senate since President-elect Joe Biden, who was sworn in to the chamber at the age of 30 in 1973.

After Warnock, Ossoff, and Padilla are sworn in, the party split in the Senate will be 50-50. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer will become the first New Yorker and the first Jewish lawmaker to become Senate Majority Leader.

Harris will wield power as the decisive Senate vote, helping the Biden administration confirm his appointments and giving Democrats the hammers of committees tasked with holding watchdog hearings and drafting far-reaching legislation.

[ad_2]

Source link