On a Thursday in mid-November, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen stepped forward to challenge Chuck Schumer for the leadership of the Senate Democrats, a moment that arrives in the afterglow of a midterm victory that should have buoyed the party. He framed his bid not as a contest of personalities but as a response to a public that asked for an economy no longer rigged against working people and a politics less shaped by corruption. Schumer, who has steered the caucus since Harry Reid's retirement, still appears likely to keep the post, yet the question of who should lead a restored majority has
Van Hollen Launches Challenge to Schumer for Senate Democratic Leadership
"Should not be a finger-in-the-wind issue."
Mark
Why does this challenge matter if Schumer is still expected to win?
Mimi
Because it's the first serious public move against him since a strong election night. Challenges usually surface when a leader is weak, and this one comes when his position has improved.
Mark
What is Van Hollen actually arguing?
Mimi
Two things. On policy, he wants Democrats to use the Dec. 11 funding deadline as leverage to end the Iran war. On politics, he objects to a leader picking sides in open primaries.
Luke
On that primary claim, what do we actually know? It's Van Hollen's characterization that Schumer worked behind the scenes. He named El-Sayed and Flanagan as senators who wouldn't be there otherwise. That's his account, not something the reporting independently establishes.
Mark
And Schumer says he has the votes?
Luke
That's his own assertion too. Nobody has published a count. Rosen has endorsed him, but others are simply uncommitted.
Mimi
Slotkin is the clearest example. She isn't running, but she says she's a no until someone shows a concrete, different plan.
Mark
So support for change doesn't mean support for Van Hollen?
Luke
Right. Sanders backs him, and Hamilton has called for new leadership, but Hamilton hasn't endorsed Van Hollen in this reporting. Van Hollen himself says he's an underdog.
Mimi
And the shutdown history shows why the left is restless, even though Schumer later held the caucus together.
O Pulso
- Van Hollen announced his challenge on X, breaking open a leadership fight just days after Democrats won a decisive midterm.
- Bernie Sanders immediately threw his weight behind Van Hollen, while Schumer's allies Gillibrand and Rosen rallied to defend him.
- Undecided senators like Elissa Slotkin are withholding their votes, insisting on a concrete and definitively different plan before committing.
- Van Hollen is pressing the December 11 funding deadline as a source of leverage, arguing it should not be treated as a finger-in-the-wind issue.
- With the vote expected early next month, Schumer still holds the edge, but the race is, in Van Hollen's words, very much in flux.
On a Thursday in mid-November, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen stepped forward to challenge Chuck Schumer for the leadership of the Senate Democrats, a moment that arrives in the afterglow of a midterm victory that should have buoyed the party. He framed his bid not as a contest of personalities but as a response to a public that asked for an economy no longer rigged against working people and a politics less shaped by corruption. Schumer, who has steered the caucus since Harry Reid's retirement, still appears likely to keep the post, yet the question of who should lead a restored majority has now been asked aloud, and the answer will be decided in early December.
On Thursday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland announced on X that he is running to replace Chuck Schumer as the Senate's top Democrat. He cast the race as a question about what the country asked for: an economy no longer rigged against working people, and a politics freed from corruption. It was not, he insisted, about any one person.
The move is the most significant yet by a high-profile Democrat against party leadership since the midterms. Bernie Sanders backed him within hours. Schumer answered that he welcomes the discussion, points to a result he calls "55 seats and counting," and says he has the votes. Gillibrand and Rosen have stood by him, and the gains have eased some of the strain of the past few years, though frustration on the left has not gone away.
Van Hollen, 67, has built a following among progressives through his stance on Israel arms restrictions and his trip to El Salvador to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia. In an interview, he called himself an underdog but said the race is in flux. He argued that Schumer has not been firm enough in using the power of the purse against the Iran war, and that the December 11 funding deadline should be used as leverage. He also faulted Schumer's behind-the-scenes role in primaries, saying two senators now in office might not be there otherwise.
The challenge draws on both flanks. Moderate Adam Hamilton has also called for new leadership, and Elissa Slotkin remains uncommitted, saying she wants a clear and different plan before she will vote for anyone. The vote comes early next month. The answer will show whether the caucus wants a continuation or a reckoning, and whether the funding fight becomes the first test of that choice.
On Thursday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland announced on X that he is running to replace Chuck Schumer as the Senate's top Democrat. His message framed the race around the election rather than around his rival. Americans, he wrote, had called on Democrats to unrig an economy rigged against working people and fueled by political corruption, and delivering on that would take new leadership. He added that it was not about any one person.
It is the most significant move yet by a high-profile Democrat against the party's existing leadership since Democrats won last week's midterms decisively. Van Hollen had earlier said he was in "listening mode" about a bid. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont, quickly backed him. Other Democrats have not committed to voting for Schumer in the leadership elections, expected early next month, but have not endorsed anyone else either.
Van Hollen is 67 and has served in the Senate since 2017, after more than a decade representing Maryland in the House. Progressives have paid growing attention to him. In 2024 he vocally supported restricting weapons shipments to Israel and criticized the Biden administration's posture on the war in Gaza. Last year he traveled to El Salvador to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had lived in Maryland and was sent to the country's notorious CECOT prison. Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed told NPR this week that the trip showed Van Hollen is "willing to take risks when it matters."
Schumer, 75, answered on X that he welcomes any discussion about the caucus's future. He said he is proud of the result, "55 seats and counting," and that he has the votes to remain Democratic leader. He has led Senate Democrats since succeeding the retiring Harry Reid of Nevada. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, defended him earlier in the week, citing his strategic leadership and saying that despite the grumblings there is enormous gratitude. She noted the party is about to win nine Senate seats, which she said had never happened in her political history. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada endorsed him late Thursday, saying he has the experience and the fight to lead the caucus.
Schumer is still widely expected to keep the job. Democrats flipped at least eight Senate seats, with one race in Alaska undecided, despite a map that looked unfavorable, and they will hold a sizable majority in the new Congress. The results appear to have improved his standing after a rough few years. Resistance grew after he maneuvered to avoid a government shutdown in early 2025, angering the party's left. Later that year he changed course and kept Democrats largely united through a record-breaking shutdown fought over expiring health insurance tax credits.
In an interview with MS NOW, Van Hollen called himself an underdog but said the race is "very much in flux" after talking with colleagues. Asked how he would differ from Schumer, he said the leader has not been firm enough about using the power of the purse to force the Trump administration to end the Iran war. He told host Jen Psaki that the Dec. 11 government funding deadline should be used as leverage and "should not be a finger-in-the-wind issue." He also criticized Schumer for working behind the scenes to back candidates in Democratic primaries, a long-running progressive grievance. Two senators, he said, would not be there had Schumer gotten his way: El-Sayed and Minnesota Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan.
Calls for new leadership have come from both flanks, from progressives like Sanders and from moderates like Kansas Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton. Two days earlier, Sanders had spoken at a news conference alongside the more moderate Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. She said she is "not actively seeking this job" but is seeking change, and that anyone wanting her vote must show a concrete, definitively different plan. Until she sees one, she said, she is a no.
The vote comes early next month. Watch whether undecided members like Slotkin commit, and whether the Dec. 11 funding deadline becomes the test of what a different leader would do.
Citações Notáveis
I'm a no until and unless I see that from anyone.— Sen. Elissa Slotkin, on a concrete plan for new leadership
I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader.— Sen. Chuck Schumer, on X
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Leia o original em CBS News ↗