Even before Democrats knew the size of their incoming Senate majority, there was agitation from the left against keeping Chuck Schumer as the party’s leader. But in the days after one of the party’s best elections in decades, the “Replace Schumer” effort is facing an obvious problem: an alternative candidate.
Schumer, who has steered Senate Democrats since 2017, became liberals’ favorite punching bag this cycle, an avatar of everything wrong with a listless Democratic Party. The ubiquitous New Yorker was, detractors said, too prone to seek compromise, too wary of committing to fights with President Donald Trump and his administration, too likely to cram so many messages onto an agenda that none of them landed. For a party that still remains unlikely to truly find its footing until it has a presidential nominee, Schumer was a convenient scapegoat for a coalition party in the minority.
“No one loves Chuck Schumer,” one victorious campaign consultant said this week. “But he’s the only guy who wants the job. At least right now.”
In the run up to the election, a handful of Senators—Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Brian Schaatz of Hawaii, Cory Booker of New Jersey—were seen as potential contenders to replace Schumer as majority leader. But in the days that followed, none raised their hand.
The math is just on Schumer’s side. While Sens.-elect Adam Hamilton of Kansas, Troy Jackson of Maine, and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan all said on the campaign trail that they would not back Schumer, that’s not a sizable enough bloc to end his continued leadership. Other incoming Senators like Juliana Stratton of Illinois, Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, and James Talarico of Texas have sidestepped the Schumer question for months.
Schumer only needs a bare majority of his caucus to move from minority leader to majority leader—not a majority of the voting chamber as is needed to become House Speaker. And other members of the caucus are longtime Schumer allies. Many owe him favors related to his running Senate Democrats’ campaign arm with a vise-like grip for the last two decades. Raising billions for party candidates—either directly or indirectly through campaign committees and an aligned super PAC—gives him plenty of chits to call in.
Schumer allies are not sweating the criticism from the party’s base, or even the dissent coming from candidates who are about to become his colleagues. He landed major recruiting coups in North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa—all Democratic pickups that helped the party secure a majority. Other wins in Maine, Michigan, and Kansas padded the party’s margins. Votes were still being counted in races in Mississippi and Alaska that could further expand Democrats’ power.
Indivisible, the liberal group that emerged from the ashes of Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential bid, became one of the first organizations this week to openly call for Schumer to step aside or be deposed. “Yesterday, voters made it very clear that they want a new generation of Democratic fighters,” the group posted this week. “We need a Leader in the Senate who is capable of leading that fight. It’s time for Senate Democrats to choose new leadership.” Other progressive groups have put out similar statements. None have a Senate Democrat volunteering for the position.
Schumer has brushed off the criticism. "The issue is not me," Schumer said Wednesday. "I'll be re-elected as Majority Leader, but the issue is focusing on the American people and what they want."
Well before Election Day, amid talk about Democrats regaining the Senate, a compromise idea began floating around: allow Schumer to remain Leader with the understanding he’ll retire when his term ends in two years. That would allow the 75-year-old Democrat to go out on top and cede the seat to someone new, potentially Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive star and fellow New Yorker, if she chooses to stay in Congress rather than seek the White House in 2028.
So far, Schumer has not said if that’s his plan. Either way, Schumer knows how to count. And the numbers, at least for now, are in his column.
