U.S. Senate Photographic Studio/Jeff McEvoy · Public domain

A Brooklyn native who unseated a three-term Republican incumbent in his first Senate race in 1998 and has now outlasted every other senator New York has sent to Washington. He led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to consecutive Senate gains in 2006 and 2008, then rose to Senate majority leader in 2021 — the first Jewish American to hold that post — before returning to minority leader when Republicans retook the chamber.