It wasn’t long ago that Chuck Schumer was the most vilified man in the Democratic Party, but his political fortunes have boomeranged, and he appears on track to become the elected Senate leader again, barring a massive Democratic underperformance.
Last fall, the New York senator faced intense backlash from angry Democrats who felt he wasn’t doing enough to stand up to Donald Trump as leader of the opposition in the Senate. Many wanted him to step aside and make way for someone new.
Now, with most polls pointing to a blue wave in the November midterm elections, Democrats are on the verge of something many believed near impossible: a majority in the upper chamber next year, thanks in part to Schumer’s strong fundraising efforts and successful recruitment of quality candidates in battleground states like North Carolina, Ohio and Alaska.
Schumer isn’t issuing any “I told you so’s” to his critics, at least not yet. But he’s feeling good about where things stand right now. Trump’s poll numbers have cratered amid a national affordability crisis and the ongoing war in Iran. Panicked Republicans are pulling resources from battleground states in order to defend seats in red states.
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“I have focused totally, like the North Star, on winning back the Senate, and I think people recognize that we have had a lot of success and we’re getting very close,” Schumer told The Washington Sun last week.
Schumer is planning to run for another term as leader in November, regardless of whether Democrats win the Senate or not. But it’s not clear anyone would challenge him for the job even if they lose.
High-profile progressives who have called for new leadership in the Democratic Party in the past — senators like Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — seem to be focused more on the national stage and laying the groundwork for possible campaigns for the White House in 2028.
Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, is retiring this year, and Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz is in line to replace him as party whip. Amy Klobuchar, the No. 3 Senate Democrat and another member of Schumer’s leadership team, is leaving the Senate, favored to win her bid to become governor of Minnesota. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts seem more interested in influencing the direction of the party from the outside and are not viewed as likely leadership candidates.
Democratic senators aren’t sure whether anyone else would even run for Schumer’s job.
“Generally, this is a pretty conflict-averse group of people,” said a Democratic senator who requested anonymity to speak freely about Schumer’s future. “Is there somebody in the caucus who would step up? If there is, I’m not sure who it is.”
The senator warned that could change if Democrats underperform in the November elections and whether Schumer ultimately decides to seek another term in 2028.
“Does he ask [the caucus] whether he wants to stay for two years, and is he going to run for reelection? What does that look like?” the lawmaker said. “There’s been lots of different ways that leaders have transitioned out of leadership. Would he do what [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi did, or what [former Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell did?”
“Who the fuck knows? I mean, I think it’s totally in flux,” the senator added.
Democrats have sought to distance themselves from Schumer on the campaign trail, especially after last year’s government funding fights, when the party failed to get major concessions from the White House. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota, Troy Jackson in Maine, Juliana Stratton in Illinois and Adam Hamilton in Kansas have all said they would not vote for Schumer as leader.
Scott Colom, Mississippi’s Democratic Senate candidate, has similarly called for change, arguing it’s “a big problem” that both Democratic leaders in Congress — Schumer and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — hail from Brooklyn, New York.
“That’s not a good thing for a national party to have two people who live within that close proximity. For me, I would really prefer somebody that understood rural America,” Colom told The Sun in a recent interview.
Other Democratic Senate candidates like former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper have not explicitly committed to supporting Schumer, but they haven’t ruled it out, either. Schumer’s political operation has invested large sums of money to support their campaigns, as well as the campaigns of other critics.
But leader elections for both the Senate majority and minority take place in a secret ballot vote that’s expected to happen soon after the November elections. The public won’t know if Schumer’s critics followed through with voting for someone else.
Democratic senators have been loath to discuss the sensitive topic of Schumer and their caucus leadership in public. Most are taking a wait-and-see approach depending on the results of midterms.
“That’s putting the cart before the horse. I’m just trying to win the election,” Van Hollen said, adding that he’s currently focused on campaigning for Democrats across the country.
Some progressives have floated the idea of Van Hollen as leader, but the Maryland Democrat told The Sun earlier this year that he’s considering a presidential bid instead. Operating from within the halls of Congress, he reflected, is “not a successful recipe for actually getting change.” Still, he hasn’t totally ruled it out.
Booker, another likely 2028 contender, also punted when asked about the subject this week.
“I’m focused right now on winning, and then I think we need to have a family conversation about whether people are getting gavels and leading committees or who’s going to be the leader of the Senate,” he told CNN.
Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who is also weighing a 2028 run, said he expected Schumer to remain as leader if Democrats win or lose the Senate, while Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey said he wanted assurances that his bill to provide free, comprehensive health care for every child and young adult in America up to age 26 will be a priority before making a decision on leadership.
“I hope to be able to have leadership and partners in the Senate that want to help me push these types of ideas forward,” Kim said. “This is not meant to be a messaging bill. It’s something I actually want to get done.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) credited Schumer’s “stellar candidate recruitment” for putting Democrats in a “very strong position to take back the Senate.”
“Republicans spending big to save Senate seats in red states would have been unthinkable this time last year,” Whitehouse added in his statement.
Progressive activists also want Senate Democratic leadership to embrace more ambitious policies like Medicare for All in the next Congress, which wouldn’t have a chance of passing while Trump is president, but it could help the party set the terms of debate ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
But most of all, they want a change at the top.
“The leader should be concerned,” said Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, the progressive group founded by Sanders in 2016. “There is a shift in the base of the Democratic Party, and the grassroots want leaders who will fight aggressively against the Trump administration and their overreach.”
Schumer, at least, is ignoring the haters as Democrats strive to flip at least four seats needed to win the majority.
“Our caucus is totally unified,” he said at a press conference last week. “We’re in great shape. Everyone is really very, very pleased with where we are today compared to where we were 20 months ago under our leadership, and we’re fighting hard. We’re on the edge of taking back the Senate.”
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