Van Hollen to challenge Schumer for Senate majority leader

Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland, said on Thursday that he will run against Chuck Schumer, the current Democratic minority leader, for the post of Senate majority leader. Democrats are set to regain control of the US Senate in January, so the contest will decide who leads the party's caucus in the new term.

In a statement posted on social media, Van Hollen said voters had called for change, both from President Donald Trump's policies and from a status quo he argued is not working for working people. He stressed that the bid is not about one individual and that the caucus needs new leadership.

Schumer replied in his own social media post less than a minute later. He said he welcomed discussion about the caucus's future, pointed to the party's results so far — 55 seats and counting — and asserted that he has the votes to keep serving as Democratic leader.

Progressive versus centrist

The race sets a progressive Democrat, Van Hollen, against a centrist, Schumer. Van Hollen's challenge follows his earlier remark that he was considering a run, and Schumer's statement that he had the support needed to win. The closed-door vote will be by secret ballot and is scheduled for early December.

It will be the first contested election for Democratic leader in decades. Whether to re-elect Schumer has already split the caucus, and many senators decline to say publicly how they will vote. They have privately discussed what message to draw from the election. Schumer recruited many of the party's winning candidates and raised money for them, but some winners, notably Michigan senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, did not initially have his backing.

Since the election, Schumer has been talking with Democratic senators about setting an agenda for 2027. Last week he told the Associated Press: "I'm going to win it."