Chuck Schumer expected the Senate majority to come with a promotion. Instead, the New York Democrat is suddenly fighting a revolt inside his own party.
Several sitting and incoming Democratic senators are refusing to give Schumer a blank check to become majority leader. One has left open the possibility of challenging him, while others are openly demanding a new generation of leadership.
That is a remarkable turn for a man who entered the weekend as the overwhelming favorite to lead a newly empowered Senate Democratic caucus.
According to CNN, Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan declined to back Schumer during a post-election gathering in Washington; Slotkin went further and said she was not ruling out a run herself.
Democrats won the chamber. Schumer still has not won his own caucus.
Van Hollen said there should be no “coronation” and urged fellow Democrats to withhold commitments until Schumer explains what he intends to do with the party’s new power.
Slotkin said Democrats should not even provide the quorum Schumer needs until he offers a serious plan for the first 100 days. Asked whether she might enter the leadership contest, she called it an open field and said conversations were moving quickly.
Those are not harmless requests for a few policy details. They are public warnings that the party’s old leadership cannot assume Tuesday’s victories erased years of frustration.
CNN Politics captured the growing uncertainty on Saturday night:
Schumer remains the favorite. He needs support from a majority of Senate Democrats, and no declared opponent has entered the race.
But the resistance is no longer limited to activists or anonymous grumbling.
Kansas Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Schumer is viewed as divisive by many voters in his state. Hamilton said Democrats need someone who can bring the country together and lead from the center.
The criticism matters because Hamilton just became the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas in 94 years. He is exactly the kind of lawmaker Democrats will point to when claiming their new majority represents something broader than the party’s coastal base.
And he is not alone.
Incoming senators Troy Jackson of Maine, Annie Andrews of South Carolina and Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota have called for new leadership or reaffirmed that they will not support Schumer. Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed said he wants to see who else enters the contest and who can deliver on the party’s mandate.
The Associated Press independently reported that Hamilton has already told Schumer he wants a less polarizing leader. The Kansas Democrat said he is looking for someone who can lead from the center, bring Republicans and Democrats together and offer fresh ideas rather than deepen the same national divide.
AP also reported that El-Sayed had been prepared to support Van Hollen, though Van Hollen has signaled that a leadership run is not his focus. El-Sayed has not committed to Schumer and says he wants to know who can deliver on the mandate Democrats believe they received from voters.
The chronology is revealing: Schumer helped finance Democratic campaigns and entered the weekend without a declared challenger, yet some of the senators who will expand his caucus are still withholding the one vote he needs from them. This is no longer a protest from outside the room; it is a negotiation over who controls it.
During Sunday’s interview, Hamilton put the objection plainly:
This fight is about more than Schumer’s personality.
Democrats now have to decide what they believe voters actually authorized them to do.
Schumer and his allies can argue that he helped recruit candidates, raise money and return the party to the majority. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona has already said he plans to support him, crediting Schumer for working hard to win the chamber.
The dissidents see a different lesson. They believe voters demanded a break from Washington’s stale habits, and that returning the same leadership to power would squander that message before the new Congress even begins.
There is also an obvious 2028 shadow over the contest. Van Hollen, Slotkin and Kelly have all been discussed as possible presidential candidates. Every decision about Senate leadership now doubles as a test of where Democrats want their party to go next.
That tension could become even sharper once the caucus moves behind closed doors. Leadership elections are expected in early December, and the vote is typically conducted by secret ballot.
Public endorsements matter, but senators can vote differently when no one is watching.
Schumer may still prevail. He has institutional support, a record of fundraising and no single challenger around whom the opposition has united.
But the important development is what has already happened: Democrats won a sweeping election, and some of their newest senators immediately used that victory to challenge the leader who expected to inherit the prize.
Schumer wanted a coronation. His own party is making him earn every vote.
The post Democratic Revolt Erupts Around Chuck Schumer’s Bid For Majority Leader appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
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[H/T 100PercentFedUp]
