As a New Yorker, Schumer has known both Clinton and Trump for years, a background that will give him an immediate leg up over past leaders in their first years of power. Schumer will also have the benefit of near total loyalty from his fellow Democratic senators. While Speaker Paul Ryan will spend much of his time managing his own caucus, Schumer is not expected to have any such distractions. He oversaw the Senate Democrats’ combined 14-seat pickup in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and helped many of the Democrats serving today get their seats in the first place. More than that, Democrats describe Schumer as an old-school legislator who looks for the minutiae in policy to deliver for individual members.

“He calls them all the time. He checks in all the time. I know people who are not in the Senate whom he calls, just to check on things, but in a very tactical way,” said Scott Mulhauser, a Senate veteran and former staffer to Vice President Joe Biden. “It’s a caucus with ideologies from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin and he has the trust of conservatives and liberals as the guy who gets things done.”

[Schumer Says Immigration, Tax Overhaul on Potential Agenda]

It is Schumer’s preference for action over ideology that most people point to as the reason he may be the cure for Washington’s gridlock in the future. If you’ve seen him on Capitol Hill, you know know he is constantly in motion and usually on the phone. Unlike Harry Reid, who styles himself as a gut-punch brawler, Schumer’s inclination is toward doing a deal. All those Sunday press conferences weren’t only about getting Schumer in the news, which they did. They were about showing a legislator in action.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich pointed to Schumer as a reason to believe bipartisanship may get new life next year, even in a divided Washington.