Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Thursday that he will run for majority leader, challenging longtime Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
Van Hollen said in a statement that the midterm election results are a sign Americans want “change” not only from “Donald Trump’s disastrous policies” but also from a “status quo that isn’t working for working people.”
“It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership. This is not about any one person — it’s about answering the call of the American people,” he said in the statement.
Van Hollen’s decision is a setback to Schumer, who remains favored to become leader but had previously predicted that he would not have a challenge. Democrats will hold their caucus elections next month.
Schumer has repeatedly predicted since the Democrats won a majority in last week’s midterms that he will be elected majority leader. In a statement after Van Hollen’s announcement Thursday, he said he has already locked up the votes in the race.
“I welcome any discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together — 55 seats and counting is an amazing result — and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader,” Schumer said in a social media post.
“I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people,” he added.
Van Hollen said in an MSNOW interview he had the support of more than 10 of the 55 Democratic senators who are known to be voting but acknowledged that he was the “underdog” in the race.
“I’ve gotten feedback from members of the caucus,” Van Hollen added. “And my view is this is very much in flux. … People will have to make a decision one way or the other.”
Several Senate Democrats — including Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — have publicly said they will support Schumer for leader. Several other Democratic senators who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive leadership race have said either in interviews or through their offices that they intend to vote for Schumer during the closed-door election.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, said in a statement Thursday night that he is backing Schumer for leader, calling him “one of the principal architects of the most successful election in modern history.”
But Schumer, 75, has emerged as a frequent target for the party’s base, which began calling for his ouster last year after he helped advance a GOP funding bill to avert a shutdown just a couple of months into Donald Trump’s second term.
Even as Schumer has worked to try to shore up his standing within the caucus since then, progressives in his party haven’t forgiven him, and a crop of incoming senators — including Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota and Troy Jackson of Maine — have said they do not plan to support him.
El-Sayed and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said publicly Thursday they would back Van Hollen.
It’s the culmination of a two-year transformation of a longtime fixture of the Democratic establishment. Van Hollen, 67, has held public office continuously since 1991 — spending 14 years in the House, some of it in leadership, before being elected to the Senate in 2016.
But Van Hollen has grown more critical of party leaders in recent years, particularly their approach to President Donald Trump and the U.S.-Israel relationship. He jumped into the national spotlight last year when he became the first U.S. lawmaker to visit the El Salvador prison where the administration was sending scores of deportees — including a Maryland man, Kilmar Ábrego García, who had been mistakenly deported in contravention of a court order.
He said earlier this year that he was eyeing a 2028 presidential bid as some Democrats privately speculated last month that a senator with higher ambitions might challenge Schumer in a profile-raising bid.
Van Hollen’s thinking on the leadership race evolved after Democrats’ sweeping election win, a grassroots push for change atop the caucus and a flood of supportive calls.
Van Hollen told reporters this week that he didn’t believe Schumer should have a “coronation.”
“We should not support anybody for leader without a very clear plan,” he said, “and as you know, there are many people who think that a change is required.”
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