The celebrations over the Democrats winning back the Senate have barely faded, and the party already has a leadership fight on its hands. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Thursday that he will seek to become majority leader when the new Congress convenes, putting him in direct competition with Chuck Schumer, who has run the Democratic caucus since 2017.
Voters wanted change, Van Hollen argued, and that calls for “new leadership”; the bid, he insisted, was not about any single individual. His move follows a push by grassroots progressives and several incoming senators who had been urging him to step forward. Many on the left still resent Schumer for backing a Republican spending bill in 2025 rather than forcing a confrontation with President Donald Trump.
Van Hollen, 67, is pitching a more combative course. His team says the Democrats should wield their fresh power to stop the Iran war, and the first lever would be December’s must-pass budget deal that keeps federal agencies open. He also promises to roll back Trump’s signature tax and spending law and to crack down on money in politics.
Schumer, 75, answered within hours. He welcomed debate about the caucus but pointed to “55 seats and counting” as a shared achievement and said flatly that he already has the votes to stay on as leader. Van Hollen does not dispute that he is the underdog; he told an interviewer that more than ten of the 55 Democratic senators are behind him.
Senate Democrats will settle the matter in December in a secret ballot held behind closed doors, where a simple majority wins. Schumer remains the favorite, yet this is shaping up as the toughest test of his long tenure.
