I was pleasantly surprised that the Democrats not only held onto their control of the U.S. Senate in the 2022 midterm elections but actually netted one additional seat to give them a 51-49 majority. Even better, the difference maker was from my home state of Pennsylvania where John Fetterman was elected to replace the odious Pat Toomey.

Not that he likely remembers me, but I met Fetterman in Pittsburgh during the Netroots Nation conference in 2009, and I was very impressed with him. I supported his successful bid for Lieutenant Governor, and I supported him in the Democratic primaries for U.S. Senate. I’ve been waiting eagerly to find what committees he’s going to serve on, and I finally found out today.

It turns out to be almost exactly what I expected. Gaming it out was partly about knowing the profile of Pennsylvania’s other senator, Bob Casey, because there’s usually not too much overlap in a state’s two senators’ committee assignments. The rest is related to knowing the particularities of a state, the background and strengths of the politician, and what kind of opportunities are generally open to a freshman senator.

Casey is the chairman of the Aging Committee, which is not much of a job because the committee has no legislative responsibilities. He’s now serving on the powerful Finance Committee and the Intelligence Committee, but he’s long served on the HELP Committee which gives him the profile of a labor Democrat.

Fetterman isn’t a lawyer so I didn’t expect him to serve on the Judiciary Committee, and he isn’t a veteran so I didn’t expect him to serve to fill the role of a national security Democrat. My guess was that he’s find a position on the Environment and Public Works Committee because he’s a reliable liberal, on the Agriculture Committee because it will help him build up support in the rural parts of the state, and the Banking Committee because he’ll blend well with chairman Sherrod Brown and members like Elizabeth Warren and Raphael Warnock, and also because it will help him raise money and Pennsylvania has a lot of influential banks. That’s exactly what happened, but he also landed a spot on the Joint Economic Committee and will serve on Casey’s Aging Committee.

The other new Democrat in the Senate is Peter Welsh of Vermont, a longtime veteran of the House of Representatives. Welsh actually is a lawyer, so that helps explain why he was placed on the Judiciary Committee. His assignment on the Commerce Committee jibes with his service on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He’s also going on the Agriculture Committee, which makes sense because he’s replacing Patrick Leahy who served on that committee for decades. Finally, Welsh will serve on the Rules Committee, which is reserved for people Majority Leader Chuck Schumer trusts.

The other big news is that Michigan’s Gary Peters was rewarded for his successful service as the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee with a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee. His home state colleague, Agriculture Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, has announced that she won’t seek reelection in 2024, so giving Peters more power will take some of the sting out losing her influence.

There was not a lot of churn in the Senate, especially on the Democratic side, as the incumbents up for reelection all won, and there weren’t a bunch of retirements. The Democrats did gain majorities on the committees, which created a minor game of musical chairs. As for Fetterman, he’ll have to bone up on farming issues, and he’s going to get very familiar with how banks operate. He’ll also have plenty of work on transportation and infrastructure issues, and some of housing and urban affairs. His profile closely resembles that of Sherrod Brown, which makes sense both ideologically and when you consider how a progressive Democrat can set themselves up to be successful in the states they represent.

I’m excited to see him get to work.