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By Jennifer Radcliffe
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Maryland U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said Thursday that he will run for Senate majority leader in the next Congress, setting up a challenge against Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer after the party swept to power in the midterm elections.
Van Hollen's announcement Thursday makes him the first to challenge New York's Schumer.
“In this election, the American people called for change,” Van Hollen said in a statement. He argued that voters rejected President Donald Trump’s policies and that “the status quo that isn’t working for working people.”
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Democrats need new leadership to answer voters’ demands, he added.
Van Hollen called it “a generational opportunity for the Senate to respond to the call of the American people for change."
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Pressure for a challenge had been building since Election Day.
Former presidential candidate and progressive Senator Bernie Sanders is among the highest-profile voices criticizing the New York lawmaker's direction, but several Democratic centrists have also declined to back Schumer for the role he has held since 2017.
Schumer has said he expects to keep his job and declined to directly answer a question about whether he has spoken to Van Hollen since he began mulling a challenge.
Earlier this week, he told reporters, “I’ll be reelected as majority leader.”
His allies point to the midterm results. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who ran Senate Democrats’ campaign arm this cycle, said that Schumer not only won the Senate back but he “cares deeply, and he understands politics well."
Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed has repeatedly said he would support Maryland's Van Hollen for the majority leader role. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal also said he was open to new leadership if a challenger stepped forward.
Van Hollen has served in the Senate since 2017 and previously spent 14 years in the House.
Senate Democrats will likely hold elections next month for their top positions. Schumer’s reelection requires a majority of caucus votes to succeed.
Newsweek has reached out to the offices of Schumer and Van Hollen for comment.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Edward T. Cummins
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