Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on February 25, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
With Democrats poised to take over Congress after enormous midterm wins, a civil war has broken out over the party's incoming leaders in the House and Senate, and now, some D.C. insiders have revealed the latter fight is not as doomed as it seems.
As things currently stand, Sen. Chuck Schumer is poised to once again become the party's Senate Majority Leader, while Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is likely to become House Speaker after being anointed by Nancy Pelosi as her successor. Each man has faced severe pushback from voters and more progressive members of their caucus, who believe that their lack of fight in the face of President Donald Trump's abuses over the last two years makes them unfit for leadership.
Schumer, in particular, has faced a pushback campaign from 50501 and Indivisible, the groups that organized the recent "No Kings" protests nationwide. The groups have opposed Schumer's leadership within the Democratic Party since the first months of the second Trump administration, when he opted to vote in favor of the GOP's stopgap funding bill, a move widely condemned as capitulation to Trump.
The groups have thrown their weight behind Sen. Chris Van Hollen for the role, with the Maryland lawmaker having won considerable acclaim from the Democratic base for his efforts to stand up to Trump's mass deportation agenda. Van Hollen, however, recently claimed that he is not interested in the role, with many observers noting that the senator is more interested in a 2028 presidential bid. Taking on Senate or House leadership roles is often detrimental to such ambitions, given that they become lightning rods for criticism about everything people dislike about a party.
Nonetheless, Van Hollen has said that he also opposes continuing with Schumer as majority leader, and several prominent members of the party, including Michigan Senator-Elect Abdul El-Sayed, have said that they would support Van Hollen in the role.
Some affiliated with 50501 and Indivisible, however, now believe that Van Hollen is still a viable candidate to oust and replace Schumer. Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible, took to BlueSky on Sunday to share his "intel" on why Van Hollen is still in play.
"I've spent days talking to DC insiders," Levin wrote. "Schumer does not yet have the votes. His strategy is to make it seem like an inevitability - it ain't. But who else? This is where I've shifted.... It's Chris Van Hollen. And I think people are misreading the signals. Senate speak is a language. CVH has said he's not 'focused on it' or he's 'kicking the tires' for a presidential run instead. But he was also the first to oppose a Schumer coronation. That's Senate speak for: lets see how this develops. In short, my read is that CVH is draftable and could win. What changed things? The overwhelming public opposition to a Schumer coronation flooding congress. Senators are back tomorrow. Please keep up the pressure!!! Love on CVH is nice, but call your own senators. They're the ones with a vote!"
Responding to Levin's take, Hunter Dunn, the national press coordinator for 50501, said that he has heard from sources close to the matter that Van Hollen is more open to the idea than he is letting on.
"Ezra, per usual, Knows Ball," Dunn posted. "Chris Van Hollen is the most viable replacement candidate available, and has been… let’s just say, I’m hearing things that imply he’s more willing than the mainstream narrative suggests."
