Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is “facing rumbling unrest” as a behind-the-scenes push to sideline him grows and newly elected Democrats look to chart a new course after the party’s historic midterm victory, Politico reported Monday.
Democrats are poised to control at least 54 Senate seats and could reach 56 once races in Alaska and Mississippi are called.
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom leads his Republican opponent by nearly 2,600 votes with fewer than 2,900 ballots left to count, according to Punchbowl News. In Alaska, former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) leads her GOP opponent in that state’s Senate race, though that contest may not be called for weeks.
Schumer has led Senate Democrats since 2017 but has repeatedly infuriated the party’s base, first in March 2025 when he voted to advance a Republican spending bill to avert a government shutdown, and again in November 2025, when eight members of his caucus broke ranks to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history without the Affordable Care Act subsidy extension Democrats had demanded.
After Democrats’ electoral victories last week, pressure has grown on Senate Democrats to pick a new leader when the party takes the majority. According to two insiders who spoke with Politico on condition of anonymity, a movement to elevate Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to the Senate majority leadership position is “underway and gaining steam.”
Over the weekend, Van Hollen argued that Schumer “should not automatically retain his role as Senate Democratic leader,” The Washington Post reported. Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of the progressive organization Indivisible, appeared to agree and hinted that Van Hollen would be ripe for the position.
“[Van Hollen] has not sought the position, but he has also not closed the door to the position,” Levin told Politico. “And I think if there is sufficient public demand, that not only would he possibly get in the race, but I think he could win.”
Schumer’s troubles extend to the incoming freshman class. Newly elected Democrats from Michigan, Kansas, Illinois and Maine have publicly said they won’t back him for majority leader, and Sen.-elect James Talarico (D-TX), who won his state’s Senate race, declined to commit during the campaign, saying the party needs “new blood,” The Hill reported.