As Hillary Clinton becomes increasingly frustrated with Bernie Sanders’ dogged campaign against the party establishment, Democrats backing the front-runner have recently begun looking to a peacemaker: Sen. Chuck Schumer.

And Schumer has been telling lawmakers in recent days he believes he could be a helpful bridge between the two feuding camps, a Democratic source familiar with the conversations said.


The New York senator enjoys a close relationship with Clinton, whom he helped usher into politics when she served as his junior senator. A Clinton “true believer,” as close allies describe him, Schumer began urging her to run for president three years ago. He campaigned hard for her in her adopted home state last month, and speaks to her regularly on the phone, insiders said.

The future Democratic Leader has much riding on Clinton’s candidacy. Schumer has had a rocky relationship with the Obama White House, one that became more strained after he refused to back the president’s Iran nuclear deal last August. If Clinton assumes the White House next January, the longtime New York senator would ascend to a party leadership role with an ally to work with in the Oval Office.

But Schumer also has longstanding ties to Sanders — both senators are sons of Brooklyn, with the accents to prove it, and were fellow students at James Madison High School in Gravesend. Schumer also helped recruit and coach Sanders for his Senate run in 2006 — and it was Schumer who lured the populist Vermonter to the gilded Democratic donor retreat in Martha’s Vineyard for the annual Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser last year, according to insiders.

Despite his closeness with Clinton, Schumer has maintained an open channel of communication directly to Sanders and the two colleagues “talk regularly,” according to a source close to Sanders. Sanders camp called the relationship between the two senators one of “collegiality and mutual respect.” But Schumer's warm relationship with Wall Street has created tensions with Sanders -- and many progressives remain skeptical of him. Those tensions could potentially limit any role he might play.

Schumer has another Sanders connection: a longstanding relationship with Sanders’ senior strategist Tad Devine dating back to 1988, when he was a congressman serving on the convention rules committee and Devine was lead rules committee negotiator for nominee Michael Dukakis.

Now Democrats backing Clinton are beginning to push the idea of Schumer as the party uniter -- ideally, they say, stepping in around the California primary on June 7.

“He is well-positioned to try and help achieve a meeting of the minds and a unification of both sides,” said Geoff Garin, a veteran strategist of Clinton’s 2008 campaign who now works for the super PAC backing her, Priorities USA. “He is trusted and respected by both sides and there probably isn’t a long list of people who meet that description.”

Of another potential unifier, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Garin said: “She doesn’t have the same relationship with the Clinton campaign. Chuck Schumer certainly makes sense as the right person at the right time.”

Former Schumer operative and Democratic strategist Stu Loeser added: “Chuck Schumer is extraordinarily able to find political common ground between people. What’s fueled his success in the Senate is his ability to get political and ideological opposites to agree on issues.”

Loeser said Schumer is the ideal person to bring Sanders back into the fold. Despite Schumer’s base of power in the moderate wing of the party, Loeser said, “he is deeply respectful of the side of the party that Bernie Sanders is giving voice to. He doesn’t see this as an either/or choice for the Democratic party. A navy needs aircraft carriers and it needs battleships. They have different functions, they work differently. But you need both to win a war.”

For now, according to a senior Democratic aide, "there are very intense conversations with Bernie going on, but Schumer is nowhere near them."

But Schumer, insiders said, is only interested in playing the role of peacemaker at the right time -- he is hesitant to appear to be pressuring Sanders too early, for fear of alienating any of his Senate colleagues before he has even assumed his leadership post. That’s part of why he has not criticized Sanders even as other Senate Democrats are becoming increasingly concerned about a gaping divide in the party, people familiar with his thinking said.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein told CNN on Wednesday that Sanders’ intention to take his campaign to the July convention “worries me a great deal” because of the outbursts by his supporters at the Nevada Democratic Convention.

And many of Sanders’ Senate colleagues were outraged at the treatment of Sen. Barbara Boxer in Nevada last week. "I feared for my safety and I had a lot of security around me," she told CNN. "I've never had anything like this happen."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Sanders faces a “test of leadership” in how he gets his supporters in line.

Schumer, in contrast, has assiduously avoided dropping even one public note of concern or critique about Sanders. “Schumer is going to be leader and he needs Bernie to be helpful and listen to him, not be a bomb-thrower when he gets back to the Senate,” said another Schumer ally of his resistance to publicly criticize his colleague.

At the same time, Sanders needs Schumer: as the likely next Democratic leader, Schumer would have the clout to help determine his future role and power.

“I will play whatever role either campaign wants me to play to be helpful,” Schumer said in a diplomatic statement Friday. “I know Bernie -- he’s a very good, thoughtful person and he will play a constructive role.”

While the Clinton and Sanders campaigns declined to speak to a Schumer’s potential role in facilitating a party reconciliation, former Obama strategist David Axelrod suggested he was a natural fit.

“They both speak Brooklyn,” said Axelrod, “so that's a start.”

