Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) said Thursday that he is challenging Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) to be majority leader in the next Congress, triggering a power struggle barely a week after Democrats recaptured the Senate in the midterm elections.
“The voters called for big change, and this is a time that we have to deliver for people across the country,” Van Hollen said in an interview about his decision.
If successful in an uphill bid against Schumer, Van Hollen would preside over a majority of at least 55 Democrats that could stymie President Donald Trump’s agenda during his final two years in the White House.
Van Hollen spent 14 years in the House representing a district in the Washington suburbs before he was elected to the Senate in 2016. Once an insider in House Democratic leadership, Van Hollen has shifted to a markedly more progressive lane in recent years.
Van Hollen has consistently said the Senate’s Democratic caucus should consider a leadership change, but he initially said he was not interested in the role. He shifted course as progressive groups and some newly elected Democratic senators urged him to consider it, he said.
Schumer has led Senate Democrats for the past decade. He succeeded Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nevada) as minority leader in 2017 and has never faced a challenger before.
But Schumer angered much of the Democratic base by not taking a more confrontational stance against Trump during a government funding fight last year, and some progressive activists view him as insufficiently critical of Israel.
Schumer has projected confidence that he will secure another term as leader.
“I believe I’ll be elected majority leader,” Schumer said in an interview last week. “Our caucus is united and strong and really happy with where we are right now.”
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