The chorus of Democrats demanding the party move on from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) grew louder on Tuesday from across the caucus’s ideological spectrum as the balance of power prepares to shift in Washington.
Schumer has led Senate Democrats for nearly a decade. But the 75-year-old now faces a fight for survival when the new Congress convenes in January amid calls for generational change despite recruiting many of the candidates responsible for the party’s sweep of last week’s midterm elections.
“The time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be reelected as the Democratic leader,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a socialist who caucuses with Democrats, at a rare joint press conference with his more centrist colleague Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). “We need a vigorous debate about the direction of the Democratic Party.”
Slotkin said she, too, is “seeking change” with “a new generation of leadership,” but stopped short of pledging to oppose Schumer, who faces a potential progressive challenge from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). Slotkin and Van Hollen, who is slightly younger than Schumer at 67, met Monday about his aspirations for the role.
“Whoever wants my vote is going to have to show me a concrete plan that’s definitively different. I’m a no until and unless I see that from anyone,” Slotkin said.
The episode marked an extraordinary split-screen moment for leadership drama across Capitol Hill.
Just one floor below Slotkin and Sanders, Schumer and his deputies were simultaneously addressing the media during a weekly press conference. A few rooms down from him, Senate Republicans debated in private whether to postpone their leadership elections before unanimously reelecting an uncontested Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as GOP leader by secret ballot.
Across the Capitol, House Republicans had minutes earlier chosen Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the firebrand conservative who leads the Judiciary Committee, to become House minority leader in the new Congress, succeeding outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“It takes strategic leadership, and that is what Sen. Schumer has done, and that is why you will see, despite all the grumblings, enormous gratitude for the hard work he has done to get us to this position,” an impassioned Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), chairwoman of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said of the party’s historic gains as she was flanked by Schumer. “We are about to win nine Senate seats. That has never happened in my political history. Nine. This wave is bigger than the last blue wave, which was in 2006.”
Schumer presented himself and Van Hollen as “friends” who have little daylight between them on policy.
“We talk frequently, and we’re united — united in lowering costs, and united in ending this damn war,” Schumer said, referring to the war in Iran.
Across Washington at an event, Van Hollen criticized Gillibrand and Schumer for supporting the primary opponents of Sens.-elect Abdul el Sayed (D-MI) and Troy Jackson (D-ME). He told moderator Ali Vitali of MS Now that he was “in the process right now of calling my colleagues” about his desire to become leader.
Senate Democrats will not hold their secret-ballot leadership elections until next month.
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Back upstairs in a room above the Senate chamber, Sanders turned his criticism toward the media for Democrats’ leadership woes in Congress and on the national stage with no clear front-runner heading into the 2028 presidential election.
“We need the help of the media on this issue. It’s easy to talk about personality. Is [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)] going to run for president? I bet you could write 50 articles on that. But what about writing an article about why we’re the only major country on Earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people?” Sanders said. “Let’s talk about the important issues, and I think a debate within the Democratic Caucus is a damn good way to start.”