Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) called for another lawmaker to fill Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) top position in the upper chamber.
On Tuesday evening, Ivey held a town hall at Suitland High School in Forestville, Maryland, in which it quickly became clear that his constituents were discontent with the state of the Democratic Party. They conveyed dissatisfaction with how the Left is opposing President Donald Trump’s agenda and expressed grief over Schumer’s recent move to back a spending bill supported by the president.
Faced with a crowd of voters unwilling to settle for arguments that Democrats, as the minority party in Washington, may be unable to unleash change until they make possible gains in the 2026 midterm elections, Ivey told his constituents that it was time for Schumer to go.
“I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he’s had a great, long-standing career, but I’m afraid it may be time for Senate Democrats to choose a new leader,” the Maryland Democrat said to loud applause.
His words come as a poll released earlier this month concluded the Democratic Party’s favorability rating has hit a historic low with the public, and the majority of Democrats surveyed said their leaders are taking the party in the wrong direction.
Schumer attracted the ire of Democrats, particularly in the House, last week when he reversed his position on a continuing resolution, which is a spending bill that upholds federal funding at current levels to keep the government from shutting down.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) were among the Democrats who scolded their congressional colleague. While Trump was swift to praise Schumer in a post to Truth Social for making a “really good and smart move” and “doing the right thing,” Ocasio-Cortez said there was “a deep sense of outrage and betrayal” from “the entire [Democratic] party” regarding the Senate minority leader’s actions.
Ivey added Tuesday that “one of the real downsides” of Schumer’s support for the spending bill was that “it created the ability for Trump to say he had bipartisan support for this bill.”
“I was deeply disappointed that Sen. Schumer voted with the Republicans. You know you’re on bad ground when you get a personal tweet from Donald Trump thanking you for your vote, right? We don’t want to be there. … And it’s important for us to make sure that at this critical time, we’ve got leaders that are going to take us in the right direction,” he continued.
Ivey compared Schumer’s leadership to that of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), whom he praised for corralling nearly all Democrats in the lower chamber to vote against the spending deal last week.
“I think Hakeem Jeffries will continue to hold the House Democratic Caucus together. He’s done it over and over and over again on these major bills,” Ivey said. “If we can make sure that we get the right leadership in the Senate to get it done this time and hold them together and vote with the House Democrats, we can actually have an impact.”
Schumer said last Thursday that he had decided to back the continuing resolution because he believed failure to do so would result in a government shutdown, which he characterized as “a far worse option.”
“The Republican bill is a terrible option,” Schumer said during a speech on the Senate floor. “It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs. But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
CHUCK SCHUMER POSTPONES BOOK TOUR AFTER DEMOCRATIC UPROAR TO HIS SPENDING DEAL VOTE
During an MSNBC interview on Tuesday, Schumer said, “I knew when I made this decision I’d get a lot of flak.”
“I’m a smart politician; I can read what people want,” he continued, adding that a government shutdown would have done “such damage” to the country.