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Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen has officially announced he’s challenging Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader, just days after Democrats won back control of the chamber in the midterms.
Getting into it: Van Hollen, 67, broke the news Thursday in a post on X and an interview on MS NOW. He told host Jen Psaki he’s the “underdog” but thinks the race is “very much in flux,” and said “more than 10” members of the incoming 55-seat caucus are already in his corner. Democrats will choose their leader in a secret-ballot vote on Dec. 1, and Schumer needs only a simple majority of the caucus to hold onto the job.
“In this election, Americans called on us to unrig an economy rigged against working people & fueled by political corruption. To deliver, we need new leadership. This isn’t about any one person – it’s about answering that call,” Van Hollen wrote. “That’s why I’m running for Senate Majority Leader.”
Schumer, 75, has led Senate Democrats since 2017. He fired back on X, writing, “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.”
Van Hollen says he’d use the “full power” of the Senate to end the Iran war and lower costs, including by using the Dec. 11 government funding deadline as leverage against the Trump administration. He also went after Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for picking sides in primaries, pointing to Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Minnesota’s Peggy Flanagan as two incoming senators Schumer didn’t want in the Senate. He added that the DSCC shouldn’t take money from AIPAC.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and El-Sayed quickly endorsed Van Hollen. Four other incoming senators are also calling for a change at the top: Flanagan, Kansas’s Adam Hamilton, Maine’s Troy Jackson and South Carolina’s Annie Andrews. Schumer still has plenty of support, though, including from Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Jacky Rosen, Brian Schatz, John Fetterman and independent Angus King, who asked, “Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?”
This all comes after Democrats flipped at least eight Senate seats on Nov. 3, with Alaska’s race still uncalled, and as they get ready to take control of the chamber on Jan. 4.






