Chris Van Hollen to challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader
Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen announced he will challenge longtime incumbent Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader.
Two Major Unions Throw Weight Behind Van Hollen as Leadership Fight Deepens
The intraparty battle for Senate Democratic leadership escalated on Friday as two unions with a collective 700,000 members endorsed Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen to replace Chuck Schumer as Senate majority leader, while explicitly calling on Schumer to step aside.
The 70,000-member Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) and the 600,000-member International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union (IAM) announced their support in separate press statements. The OPEIU addressed its letter directly to Schumer, writing, The overwhelming support for congressional Democrats at this time in history cannot be squandered. After careful deliberation in consultation with the OPIU Executive Board, consisting of union leaders from coast-to-coast, we are respectfully asking you to decline to seek to become the next Senate Majority Leader
and adding that The American people are desperate for change, and for a new generation of political leaders to deliver that change. We are grateful for the decades of support you’ve shown for organized labor throughout your career, but we must empower the next generation of political leaders at this pivotal time in our nation’s history.
The IAM Union praised Van Hollen as a proven champion, stating in a press release that Senator Van Hollen understands this is a fight of Workers vs. Billionaires and has the courage to deliver the change voters demanded. Workers did their part on election night. Now it’s Senate Democrats’ turn. Senator Van Hollen is the right choice.
That labor backing compounds the political pressure on the 75-year-old Schumer, a New York Democrat who has led the Democratic caucus in the upper chamber since 2017 and served as majority leader from 2021 to 2025. Van Hollen, a 67-year-old progressive Democrat who previously said he was considering running for President in 2028, announced on Thursday that he would challenge Schumer for the post, setting up the first contested leadership race for Senate Democrats since 1994, when Tom Daschle of South Dakota defeated Chris Dodd of Connecticut in an open race to succeed retiring leader George Mitchell.
The showdown arrives just after a midterm sweep that will hand Democrats a sizeable Senate majority when the new Congress convenes on January 4, with the party currently holding 55 seats and counting after flipping at least eight Republican-held seats up from 47, while Alaska's Senate race remains uncalled. Senate Democrats are due for a closed-door vote on Dec. 1 on who will lead the caucus.
The Staking of Power and the Fight Over Accountability
During an appearance on MS NOW on Thursday announcing his bid, Van Hollen framed the contest around generational change. This is a generational opportunity for the Senate to respond to the call of the American people for change … They’ve given us a chance. We have to earn their trust, and my view is that you can’t earn that trust with old leadership. You need to move on to new leadership,
he said.
In his initial announcement statement posted on social media, Van Hollen expanded on the theme: In this election, the American people called for change. They called for a change from Donald Trump’s disastrous policies – but even bigger than that, a change from the status quo that isn’t working for working people. It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership. This is not about any one person – it's about answering the call of the American people. That is why I’m running for Senate Majority Leader.
In the MS NOW interview with Jen Psaki, Van Hollen consciously emphasized the word power around half-a-dozen times, telling Psaki, I believe that we should use our full power in the United States Senate to respond to the calls of the American people.
That focus on maximal power opens a deeper strategic fault line within the party. Van Hollen is unlikely to prevail against the deeply connected Schumer, but his bid forces a serious discussion in the Democratic caucus about how far to go in wielding congressional power to check Donald Trump’s lawlessness and derail ongoing efforts at authoritarian consolidation. Yet analysts point out potential contradictions in Van Hollen's approach. While he strongly supports impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and urged defunding what he called an illegal and senseless war with Iran before the Dec. 11 government funding deadline, he has resisted impeaching Trump or Attorney General Todd Blanche, insisting that impeachment might take time away from kitchen-table issues.
That reluctance leaves a strategic gap in how Democrats plan to enforce oversight when administration officials inevitably ignore subpoenas. Progressive groups backing Van Hollen, such as Indivisible, argue that real accountability requires deploying the power of the purse by refusing to appropriate funds for agencies or specific salaries of executive branch officials who defy subpoenas. Leah Greenberg, a co-founder of Indivisible, told The New Republic that the next Senate leader must charge Democrats with being creative in using every tool they can to hold the Trump administration accountable.
Fractions, Factions, and the Vote Count
Schumer quickly dismissed the challenge by pointing to his electoral footprint and legislative machinery, telling the Associated Press last week, I’m going to win it.
In a post on X responding to Van Hollen's announcement, Schumer wrote: I welcome any discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together – 55 seats and counting is an amazing result – and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader. I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people.
That statement received a heavily negative reaction on X, with most comments calling for him to step down.
Van Hollen said on Thursday that he had consulted a large number of incumbent and incoming Democratic senators and believed he had more than 10 of the 55 Democratic votes, arguing that Schumer's support could shift now that colleagues had another candidate to consider. It is one thing to have someone’s support when you’re the only choice,
he said. I think a little democracy in the Senate Democratic Caucus is a good thing.
Van Hollen acknowledged he was the underdog, noting, Now people will have to make a decision, one way or the other, and they have to decide whether they want to vote for change or whether they want to vote for the status quo.
Resistance to Schumer runs deep across the progressive wing, fueled by grievances over his ties to Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, crypto, artificial intelligence, and corporations, alongside frustration over open primary interventions. Federal Election Commission tracking shows the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, chaired by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, accepted a direct donation of $15,000 from AIPAC’s PAC in the 2025-26 cycle, while Democratic House and Senate candidates received around $23.9 million through AIPAC PAC through Oct. 14. AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, spent around $54.2 million on House and Senate races through Nov. 11, with its largest contribution directed against Democratic Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan.
Progressive groups MoveOn, Indivisible, and the Working Families Party have actively opposed Schumer, warning they would support primary challenges against Democratic senators up for reelection in 2028 who do not back Van Hollen. Indivisible stated in a post-midterm memo that Chuck Schumer’s leadership for the last two years is part of the old era of politics that needs to be put to rest.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont threw his weight behind Van Hollen on Thursday, writing on social media: The American people voted for change. They want a Democratic Party that will stand up to powerful special interests, take on the billionaire class and fight for working families. That is why I am supporting Senator Chris Van Hollen to lead Senate Democrats.
Sanders had previously announced during a Tuesday news conference alongside Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin that he would not support Schumer.
El-Sayed, who defeated Schumer’s preferred candidate, Rep. Haley Stevens, in Michigan’s Democratic primary, stated on X that he called on Van Hollen to lead the caucus back in April because he leads with courage and experience, later endorsing Van Hollen on Thursday night.
Beyond Sanders and El-Sayed, several senators or senators-elect have stated they would not back Schumer, including Troy Jackson of Maine, Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota, Adam Hamilton of Kansas, Juliana Stratton of Illinois, and Annie Andrews of South Carolina. Mississippi Sen.-elect Scott Colom told MS Now on Thursday, I gotta know my options,
while pushing back on Schumer’s claim that he recruited him, and adding he did not think it was a good thing that congressional leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Schumer both live in the same borough of New York. Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico declined to back Schumer until hearing his vision, while New Hampshire Sen.-elect Chris Pappas stated last month that voters are hungry for a new generation of leadership. Slotkin adopted a conditional stance at Tuesday's press conference, stating, 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.
Defenders Rally Behind the Incumbent
Schumer's defenders emphasize his role as the architect of the party's midterm gains. Gillibrand defended Schumer at a news conference earlier in the week, noting that we are about to win nine Senate seats — that has never happened in my political history.
Maine independent Angus King offered a blunt defense of the incumbent: Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series? Chuck Schumer is one of the principal architects of the most successful election in modern history, and I see no reason to change the leadership that helped make that success possible.
Fourteen senators and senators-elect have publicly backed Schumer: Angela Alsobrooks, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, John Fetterman, Ruben Gallego, Mark Kelly, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tim Kaine, Angus King, Brian Schatz, and Sheldon Whitehouse. Gallego remarked on Tuesday, When the manager takes you to the World Series, you give him another contract. And this has been a, you know, a really good election cycle for us.
| Figure | Age | Position | Stance on Leadership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chuck Schumer | 75 | Incumbent Democratic Leader (NY) | Running for reelection; claims necessary votes |
| Chris Van Hollen | 67 | US Senator (MD) | Challenging for majority leader |
| Bernie Sanders | Not given | US Senator (I-VT) | Endorsed Van Hollen |
| Abdul El-Sayed | Not given | US Senator-elect (MI) | Endorsed Van Hollen |
| Angus King | Not given | US Senator (I-ME) | Endorsed Schumer (Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?) |
Updated 3 times since publication; last update 13 November 2026, 18:58.
