Bernie Sanders Becomes First Sitting Senator To Call for Schumer’s Removal as Democratic Leader

Senator Bernie Sanders is now the first member of the Senate Democratic Caucus to call for Senator Chuck Schumer to be removed as leader of the group, saying that America is demanding change. Several Democrats have so far withheld support, though Mr. Sanders is the first to say explicitly that Mr. Schumer should go. Mr. Sanders — an independent from Vermont who has caucused with congressional Democrats for nearly 30 years — is one of at least 54 Democratic Caucus members who will get a vote on who the new leader will be next year. If Democrats hold on to their leads in Mississippi and Alaska and the size of the Democratic majority climbs to 56 seats, then it would take at least 29 votes to deny Mr. Schumer another term as leader. Speaking at a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, Mr. Sanders was joined by Senator Elissa Slotkin, a more moderate lawmaker from Michigan. Ms. Slotkin is for now withholding her support from Mr. Schumer in order to force him to lay out a comprehensive plan for how he plans to fight back against the Trump administration early next year. Mr. Sanders says that no such plan will convince him to change his mind and back Mr. Schumer, though. “I personally have known Chuck Schumer for over 30 years, and I like Chuck. [There’s] nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer,” Mr. Schumer said at his brief press conference. “But in my view, the time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be re-elected as the Democratic leader.”“We need a vigorous debate about the direction of the Democratic Party,” he said. Ms. Slotkin did not make the same denunciation of Mr. Schumer. She said that she was not seeking the majority leader position and that she was open to hearing Mr. Schumer’s plan for the future, though she made clear that she has not yet been impressed by the New York Democrat’s plan for how to lead. “On election night, the American people voted for change,” Ms. Slotkin told reporters. “And I think we need to hear that.” She called for a rigorous discussion around AI regulation, including the establishment of a bicameral committee to study those issues, as well as the elevation of purple state and red state senators into the ranks of leadership. Ms. Slotkin also said she hopes that freshman and sophomore senators will get the chance to sit down at the leadership table. Most Democratic activists and other curious senators have looked to Senator Chris Van Hollen, the two-term progressive from Maryland, as a potential replacement for Mr. Schumer. Mr. Van Hollen told reporters at the Capitol on Monday that he had changed his mind about the idea of challenging Mr. Schumer, saying that he was now in “listening mode.” He had previously said that he would not run for Senate leader because he was eyeing a potential presidential run. “I am listening to the thousands of people who have been calling for change, but especially listening to our members with a particular ear to new members who just came off the campaign trail,” Mr. Van Hollen told reporters on Monday. “What I’ve said from the very beginning is: We shouldn’t have a coronation, we should have a caucus discussion.”“In response to people calling upon me to step up here, what I’ve said on this [is] that I’m listening … and haven’t shut the door,” he added. The pressure campaign to remove Mr. Schumer did not start from inside the Senate Democratic cloakroom, but rather from the new senators-elect who heard from their voters back home that they wanted Mr. Schumer ousted. His gravest sins, according to the Democratic base, is that he worked with President Trump to avoid a shutdown in early 2025 amid the DOGE cuts. He has also been criticized for his support of Israel.A number of new members have explicitly said they will not vote for Mr. Schumer during the closed-door, secret ballot vote that is due to be held by early December at the latest. Senator-elect Troy Jackson of Maine and Senator-elect Juliana Stratton of Illinois both reiterated their opposition to Mr. Schumer after their election victories last week. Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan has endorsed Mr. Van Hollen for the position, while Senator-elect Annie Andrews of South Carolina has called for “generational change,” and said she will not vote for Mr. Schumer. Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota has also said Mr. Van Hollen would be preferable to Mr. Schumer. Several other senators have been non-committal on voting or Mr. Schumer, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Raphael Warnock. Reverend Warnock told CNN in an interview on Tuesday that America was at an “inflection point” and that he hoped to hear soon from any Senate Democrat who wanted to unseat Mr. Schumer. One rising star who is backing Mr. Schumer is Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who has made no secret of his presidential ambitions. Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Gallego likened Mr. Schumer to an MLB manager. “When the manager takes you to the world series, you give him another contract,” Mr. Gallego said. “This has been a really good election cycle for us.”Mr. Schumer’s partner from New York, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand — who led Senate Democrats’ campaign arm this past cycle — delivered a fiery defense of her colleague at a press conference Tuesday, telling her colleagues that Mr. Schumer deserves another term after delivering the largest midterm win for Democrats in more than two decades. “This caucus is grateful for the hard work of Senator Schumer. No one has put in the time and effort that anyone has put into this cycle than he did,” Ms. Gillibrand said. “You will see — despite all the grumblings — enormous gratitude for the hard work he has done to get us to this position! We are about to win nine Senate seats! That has never happened in my political history.”

Bernie Sanders Becomes First Sitting Senator To Call for Schumer’s Removal as Democratic Leader

Bernie Sanders Becomes First Sitting Senator To Call for Schumer’s Removal as Democratic Leader

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