Chris Van Hollen Launches Long-Shot Challenge to Chuck Schumer for Senate Democratic Leader

On Thursday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he would challenge Chuck Schumer for the top job among Senate Democrats. The announcement came days after a midterm cycle that Democrats had every reason to celebrate. In an interview with MS NOW, Van Hollen said the move was not about any one person but about answering the call of the American people, and he described the midterm results as a huge outburst of democracy.

The vote is a closed-ballot election scheduled for December 1, and Schumer needs only a majority of his caucus to keep the job. Democrats have flipped eight seats so far and will start January with at least 55 senators. Schumer has led the caucus since 2017. He answered the challenge on X, writing that he welcomed discussion about the caucus's future, was proud of what the group had accomplished with 55 seats and counting, and had the votes to keep serving as leader. On Tuesday he told reporters he was confident of being elected and saw great unity among Senate Democrats.

Van Hollen's path to the race was not a straight one. He has long said Democrats should debate who leads them next, but on Saturday he told CNN that seeking the job was not his focus, and noted that he was also interested in running for president. By Thursday afternoon he said he was still actively listening to members. Now 67, he has served in Congress for more than two decades, including 14 years in the House and in the Senate since 2017. He has held several leadership roles, among them House Democratic assistant to the leader and chair of both chambers' campaign arms. That résumé makes him an odd fit for an anti-establishment banner, but over the past two years he has become a favorite of some progressives through his criticism of Israel and his push for a more confrontational stance toward President Donald Trump.

His profile rose after he traveled to El Salvador to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who had been mistakenly deported there, which drew the administration's anger. Michigan Sen. Abdul El-Sayed told NPR that Van Hollen is willing to take risks when it matters, and called that trip a real risk. Van Hollen has also accused the Israeli government of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a wanted war criminal, and denounced the influence of AIPAC.

He has offered at least one specific critique of Schumer: that Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee involved themselves too much in this cycle's primaries. At a post-election conference on Tuesday, Van Hollen said two newly elected senators in the room would not be there had Schumer and the DSCC gotten their way, and that they had sided with the crypto industry and AIPAC against those candidates. He argued the DSCC should weigh in only under very rare exceptions. He was the first Democratic senator to endorse El-Sayed in the Michigan primary, where El-Sayed beat Rep. Haley Stevens, who had Schumer's quiet backing, according to earlier CNN reporting. Schumer backed El-Sayed afterward.

Opposition to Schumer is open. El-Sayed has suggested he would support Van Hollen, as has independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats. At a Tuesday news conference alongside Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sanders said he has known Schumer more than 30 years and likes him, but that the time is now for change and he will not support him. Incoming senators Adam Hamilton of Kansas, Troy Jackson of Maine, Annie Andrews of South Carolina and Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota have said they want a new leader. Hamilton told CNN that, fair or not, Schumer is seen as divisive by many people.

Schumer has defenders. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego said that when the manager takes you to the World Series, you give him another contract. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who ran the campaign arm this year, said the caucus is grateful and that no one put more effort into the cycle. Mississippi's Scott Colom, who will be the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction, said Schumer understood the party had to look South, though he disputed that Schumer recruited him. Asked whether he would back Schumer, Colom said he didn't know his options and asked what they were.

Liberal frustration over Schumer, who is 75, goes beyond this vote. Critics say he hasn't fought Trump hard enough, and his longtime support of the US-Israel relationship is at odds with growing Democratic skepticism. He may also face a primary challenge in 2028, potentially from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Between now and December 1, the question is whether Van Hollen's bid gains ground among members who have so far held back.