Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is being discussed as a possible challenger to New York Sen. Chuck Schumer as the Democratic Party’s leader in the Senate, a surprising development just a week out from the party’s massive gains in the midterm elections.
While some are crediting Schumer, currently the party’s minority leader in the chamber, for recruiting candidates that saw red states like Texas and Kansas flip to the Democrats, Van Hollen is currently engaged in discussions with current and incoming Democrats ahead of the leadership election in December. The vote will be done behind closed doors, and the winner will go on to become the Senate majority leader, replacing Republican John Thune, who was reelected to lead the GOP in the minority.
Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed said he supports Van Hollen if he chooses to run. “If he decides he wants to be Senate majority leader, I think he’d be amazing at the job,” El-Sayed told CNN.
Van Hollen has said the leadership race shouldn’t simply be “a coronation” of Schumer, who has been the Democrats’ Senate leader since around the start of President Donald Trump’s first administration.
“We should have a caucus discussion about what we’re going to do with the power and responsibilities that have been invested in us,” Van Hollen said.
The Maryland Democrat was also critical of Schumer’s performance in the election. He criticized Schumer for being close to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, commonly known as AIPAC, which has regularly run smear campaigns against Democrats. Van Hollen also said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has “sided with the crypto industry.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he would not support another term of Schumer as leader. The sentiment is shared by Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who is more aligned with the party’s centrist wing.
Van Hollen broke through to the public last April, when he traveled to El Salvador to secure the release of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who had been wrongly deported by the Trump administration. Van Hollen’s trip shined a light on the administration’s abusive behavior and the lies Trump told about Abrego Garcia to justify his deportation.
Ultimately, Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States and released from custody.
Van Hollen’s trip came as frustration with Democratic Party leadership was approaching a boiling point. Just a month before the trip, Schumer had brokered a deal with Trump to continue funding the government at a moment when millions of Americans were calling on the party for maximum resistance against the administration.
While Schumer has led during past Democratic majorities and overseen the passage of key legislation like the American Rescue Plan during the former Biden administration, he has often been criticized for a leadership style that prioritizes bipartisanship over progressive ideals.
It probably doesn’t help his argument internally that so far his most vocal backer to return as leader is Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who has spent the past few years attacking his own party and even appearing at Trump’s ill-fated midterm “convention” this summer.
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