Though never regarded as a progressive, and long past his 1980s and ’90s reputation as a pugnacious House member, Schumer at least was widely considered a skillful tactician in the Senate. He has a well-earned reputation for being voracious and savvy with his media engagement. And his work as the leader of an incredibly thin Senate Democratic majority during Biden’s term yielded major legislative wins and a revamped judiciary.
But leading the opposition party requires a different approach. And many Democratic officials are skeptical he can summon it. There is a belief, born from the 2024 election results, that the party must make a generational purge, ridding itself of leaders who have grown too comfortable in their cushy Washington careers.
The Bulwark
I squawked about Nancy Pelosi for several years, but at least she knew to move aside.
A handful of Democratic senators (78-year-old Jeanne Shaheen, 66-year-old Gary Peters, and 67-year-old Tina Smith) have forfeited the power of incumbency and announced their retirements. But it’s clear some voters don’t want to wait until the 2026 midterms to run the old guard out; some are itching for change now.
We needed it a week ago. At least!
Schumer, for now, is holding his ground. “Let me put it this way: I know how to win seats back in the Senate, which I’ve proven,” he told the New York Times, when asked if he was the right leader for this moment.
Yeah, Chuck, you don't have to be IN the Senate to do that. Also, you don't have to be chair or leader, if you want to stay in the Senate collecting your fine pay and pension.
Those who know him well also say it’s impossible to imagine that he will step down. But he has an incredibly rocky path ahead.
It's a syndrome with Democrats. They think nobody can do what they're doing as well as they're doing it.
The member of Congress who spoke with The Bulwark said a dozen representatives from across the ideological spectrum urged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to primary Schumer at the caucus retreat on Thursday evening. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t latch on to the idea, the member said. But she didn’t dismiss it either.
She should do it.
For one, it’s unclear who would replace him. The second-ranking Senate Democrat is Dick Durbin, who, at 80 years old, doesn’t solve the generational problem. Neither does the third-ranking Senate Democrat, 74-year-old Sen. Patty Murray.
I'm sensing a pattern here.
Activist groups are already launching into action. Indivisible, the progressive grassroots organization, called for Schumer to step aside in a statement issued on Saturday. “Pass the Torch”—the campaign effort that popped up after Biden’s disastrous debate to urge him to step down—had no plans of becoming active again after Biden ended his re-election bid. But when Schumer announced he would vote with Republicans, the group’s leaders quickly fired up their email chains and group chats.
“[Schumer] doesn’t understand the moment and he doesn’t have the capacity to rise to the occasion and protect our country from fascism,” Aaron Regunberg, a former state representative from Rhode Island and a leader of Pass the Torch, told The Bulwark. “I don’t know any normie Democrat who is not completely disgusted and enraged by what Schumer has done. I’m getting messages from the most establishment party hack people I know who are like ‘what the fuck.’
We seem to be screaming into the void. Our pleas are falling on deaf ears.
According to a CNN survey, the Democratic party’s favorability rating among all Americans stands at just 29 percent, a record low since the network started polling in 1992. NBC News found that just 27 percent of registered voters have a positive view of the party, also an all-time low since they started polling in 1990. Both polls were conducted before the Senate voted on the government-funding bill.
Not getting better.
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