Schumer to nominate Murray as Senate president pro tempore

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced at the Senate Democratic lunch Wednesday that he will nominate Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) next month to serve next year as Senate president pro tempore, a position that is third in line to the presidency.

The nomination will need to be approved by the entire Senate Democratic Conference.  

Schumer also announced that the Senate Democratic caucus will hold its leadership election on Dec. 8.  

The job of Senate president pro tempore comes with a large, ornate office on the ground floor of the U.S. Capitol and a large security detail.  

The current office holder, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), will retire from Senate after eight terms at the end of the year.  

The most senior member of the majority party usually occupies the role of president pro tempore, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who arrived in the Senate in November of 1992, a few months before Murray, passed on the job.  

Murray was elected last week to a sixth Senate term. She defeated Republican Tiffany Smiley, 57.4 percent to 42.6 percent.  

She first joined the Senate in January of 1993.  

She is also expected to take over as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also succeeding Leahy in that powerful position.