WASHINGTON, D.C. – Progressive and centrist Senate Democrats are speaking out in opposition of Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D- NY) bid to lead the majority in the Senate in the next congress.
“I personally have known Chuck Schumer for over 30 years, and I like Chuck,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I- VT), who caucuses with the Democrats. “Nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer but in my view, the time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be reelected as the Democratic leader.”
Some have called for generational change in Senate leadership. This comes after Democrats made sweeping victories in the midterm elections for both the House and Senate.
“If this campaign was about anything it was about change and the need for the Democratic Party, in my view, to move in a new and bold direction,” said Sen. Sanders.
“I think whoever wants to run this caucus should come forward with a plan on how they’re going to govern differently,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D- MI). “What they’re going to do in the first 100 days to put money in people’s pockets, and then in particular, how they’re going to communicate differently.”
Despite these comments, Schumer remains confident he will retain his position as Democratic leader.
“I’m confident I’ll be elected as majority leader,” said Schumer. “And our caucus is united in focusing on bringing down costs, on ending corruption, on ending the chaos, on ending the war. We have great unity in our caucus, and I’ll be proud to lead it as majority leader.”
Schumer has built longstanding relationships within the caucus and has been credited in helping the party usher in election wins and candidate fundraising. Some Democrats, like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY), fiercely defended Schumer’s leadership bid.
“I can tell you this caucus is grateful for the hard work of Senator Schumer,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “No one has put in the time and effort than anyone has put in the cycle than he did. On top of that, he put in the time he worked early at the beginning of the cycle to find the best candidates we could find and what made the differences was when these very strong candidates got out there and raised the resources, created grassroots advocated; they allowed us to put more seats on the map.”
House Republicans voted in Ohio Representative Jim Jordan to lead the minority and Senate Republicans have kept South Dakota Senator John Thune as their leader. We expect Democrats to vote next week.
