Schumer, No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, urges Hillary Clinton to run for president Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Saturday became the most senior Democratic lawmaker to call on Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for president in 2016, saying she is best prepared to "vanquish" tea party Republicans. Election Day 2016 is still more than three years away and Clinton isn't expected to make a final decision on whether to run for president until next year. But that didn't stop Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, from using a rare visit to Iowa to do some early campaigning on behalf of his former Senate colleague. "I am urging Hillary Clinton to run for president, and when she does, she will have my full and unwavering support," he said Saturday evening during a keynote address to an Iowa Democratic Party fundraiser in Des Moines. Aides to Schumer alerted reporters to his intentions ahead of the speech and provided excerpts of his prepared remarks. Run Hillary run. If you run, you'll win and we'll all win," Schumer planned to say, according to the excerpts. "With a strong platform and with Hillary leading the charge, we will vanquish the Ted Cruz, tea party Republicans in 2016 and create a generation of Democrats who will make sure the middle class gets what it needs, our country advances and the torch held by that beautiful lady in New York's harbor burns more brightly than ever," Schumer said. The early endorsement could cause political trouble for Schumer if Clinton backs out of a campaign or falls behind another Democratic challenger. But the announcement appeared designed in part to begin consolidating Democratic support behind Clinton and will be seen as another setback for Vice President Biden, another of Schumer's former Senate colleagues, who has not ruled out running for president. Taking steps to prepare in the event that Clinton opts out, Biden recently phoned a newly elected Democratic state senator in Iowa to congratulate him on winning a special election. Meanwhile, a book about the 2012 presidential campaign set for release this week recounts how some top advisers to President Obama contemplated replacing Biden on the 2012 ticket with Clinton and how Biden tried to arrange meetings with Silicon Valley heavyweights last year in hopes of securing their financial support for a future campaign. Schumer becomes the most senior Democratic lawmaker to formally endorse and encourage Clinton's campaign, but he is by no means the first. News reports last week revealed that all of the female Democratic senators signed a secret letter to Clinton this year encouraging her to run, and several of them - including Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) - regularly tout her potential campaign. As New York's senior senator, Schumer backed Clinton's 2008 bid for president when she was serving as the state's junior senator. On Saturday night, Schumer admitted that in 2008 "the time was right for Barack Obama," but that "2016 is Hillary's time."