Sanders Won’t Back Schumer for Senate Leader
Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday that he will not support Chuck Schumer’s bid to lead Senate Democrats next year, the most prominent defection yet in the contest to run the party’s new Senate majority.
Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, told reporters that he would not back Schumer, Bloomberg Government reported. The announcement adds pressure on Schumer just as Democrats prepare to take control of the chamber in January, after winning the Senate in last week’s midterm elections.
“He’s not going to run unopposed, I don’t think,” Sanders said, suggesting that a challenge to Schumer could still emerge.
No challenger yet, but the door is open
No senator has formally launched a challenge to Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats since January 2017 and is seeking another term as the party’s leader. Senate Democrats will hold their leadership elections in December.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland demurred on Tuesday when asked whether he would challenge Schumer for the Senate’s top post, leaving the field open for now. Schumer, asked on Tuesday whether he was confident he would be elected Senate Majority Leader, answered simply: “yes.”
Sanders is not the first Democrat to withhold support. Two senators-elect, Adam Hamilton of Kansas and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, have already said they will not vote for Schumer. Hamilton told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that Schumer was a “divisive” figure, while El-Sayed has also publicly ruled out backing him.
A leadership fight shaped by the midterms
Democrats won control of the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections, with the Associated Press calling the chamber for the party and at least 54 seats secured. The 120th Congress begins in January 2027, when Schumer would become Senate Majority Leader if he wins the caucus vote.
The leadership question has become a test of how Democrats interpret their midterm victory. Sanders has argued that the party must focus on delivering for working people rather than relitigating the last administration. Appearing on Meet the Press on Sunday, he backed Hamilton’s criticism and said Democrats “cannot spend all of our time investigating Trump.”
Schumer’s allies, by contrast, point to his decade at the helm and the party’s gains under his leadership. The Associated Press reported in September that interviews with more than a dozen Democratic senators showed Schumer had regained trust within the caucus, though several senators declined to commit their support at the time.
What happens next
The contest now turns on whether a credible challenger steps forward before December. Sanders’ statement does not amount to a candidacy of his own, and he has not announced a run for the leadership post. But his refusal to back Schumer gives cover to other sceptics in the caucus and signals that the vote may not be the formality Schumer’s team would prefer.
House Republicans chose Jim Jordan as their leader on Tuesday, settling their own leadership race as the lame-duck session continues. In the Senate, the coming weeks will show whether Schumer can hold his caucus together — or whether the Democrats’ first majority in years begins with a fight over who leads it.
