US Senator Chuck Schumer was elected to the Senate in 1998.

Chuck was born and raised in Brooklyn where he went to public schools and played on the basketball team. He went to college and law school at Harvard and then moved back to Brooklyn to run for State Assembly. He won at the age of 23, making the youngest state legislator since Teddy Roosevelt. Six years later he ran for Congress and won a seat representing New York in the House of Representatives.

As a New York State Assemblyman, Chuck worked very hard to help the people of Brooklyn. He wrote bills and laws to protect local cemeteries from vandalism and limited pollution by outlawing motorcycle riding at night.

In 1980, Chuck ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and won. He spent eighteen years in the House, where he worked on issues like fighting crime, illegal guns and terrorism, and protecting consumers. He wrote many bills and laws such as the Omnibus Crime Bill, which put 100,000 new policemen on the streets and created after school programs for troubled kids.

After eighteen years in the House of Representatives, Chuck decided to run for Senate. He realized that the first thing he would have to do was travel around the state and learn about the problems that people faced in different areas. New York is one of the largest states in the US, and Chuck made sure to visit all 62 counties from Staten Island in the south to Clinton in the north to Chautauqua in the west and everywhere in between. After a long campaign, Chuck won. He has visited all 62 counties in his first two years in the Senate and will complete his third 62 county tour in December, 2001.

One of the first things Chuck noticed during his travels was how expensive it is to get to many parts of New York. Sky-high airfares were making life inconvenient for Upstate New Yorkers and hurting their economy. Chuck worked to bring JetBlue and low-airfares to Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo and Southwest Airlines to Albany. In the Senate, Chuck has also written bills to upgrade voting equipment, bring down the price of prescription drugs, and help middle class families pay for college. You can learn more about the issues Chuck's been working on by visiting our agenda page.

Since the terrorist attacks on America on September 11, Chuck was worked very hard to help New York recover and rebuild. Please click here for a complete list of Chuck's work related to the September 11 attacks.

During most of the week Chuck works in our nation's capital, Washington, DC. On weekends or when the Senate is in recess he spends time with his family in New York City, or travels around the state talking to New Yorkers. To see what he's been up to in your area, click here.

Chuck lives in Brooklyn with his wife Iris Weinshall and their two daughters, Jessica, 17, and Allison, 12. When he's not working, he likes to read, go to ball games, and ride his bike.