Senate Power Stays Inside the Party’s Private Room

Sen. Chris Van Hollen isn’t looking to challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader, even as Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed and some progressive groups have indicated they’d like to support him. The choice rests with Democrats in a private meeting, not a public vote: the leader needs backing from a majority of the party, likely 28 Democrats.

“We simply think there should be no coronation of Schumer or anyone else. We should have a public process,” Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told HuffPost. His group wants the next majority leader, even if it’s Schumer, to commit to progressive priorities. The demands come from outside the caucus; the decision stays inside it.

Who Gets to Choose

A source familiar with Van Hollen’s thinking told HuffPost he was “Not looking at the majority leader role.” Van Hollen has previously said he is “kicking the tires” on a 2028 presidential bid. His name has surfaced amid calls for Democrats to reconsider their leaders after midterm elections that Democrats dominated to an unprecedented degree.

Winning candidates have faced questions about whether they support Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries remaining in leadership. Many, including some of Tuesday’s highest-profile winners, have said no or been noncommittal. But there’s little chance either leader will lose his job before the new Congress starts in January.

“The issue is not me. I’ll be re-elected as majority leader. The issue is focusing on the American people and what they want,” Schumer said Wednesday at the Democratic Senate campaign headquarters. His confidence sits alongside the limits of the process: voters and petition signers can make noise, but Senate Democrats decide the leadership question in private, and the process may not include a recorded vote.

Pressure From Outside, Power Inside

An online petition with tens of thousands of signatures, high-profile celebrity supporters, disdain for the party establishment among liberal media figures, and thousands of calls to congressional offices have created an appearance of uncertainty over whether Schumer and Jeffries will keep their jobs. The same debate includes whether Jeffries will become the first-ever Black Speaker of the House.

Indivisible launched its “No Schumer Coronation” campaign, urging Democrats to withhold their votes until Schumer commits to progressive priorities. The group stopped short of demanding his replacement. Our Revolution has called for replacing both Schumer and Jeffries. Levin said Indivisible wants a leader to commit to ending the war in Iran, clawing back ICE resources, undoing Medicaid cuts, and getting rid of the filibuster next year.

Indivisible first soured on Schumer in March 2025, after what it saw as mishandled messaging and strategy around a potential government shutdown. Levin said, “My goal is a strong Democratic Party,” and described a “massive credibility gap” that the party needed to solve. His criticism came after Schumer’s electoral strategy delivered Democratic gains, including flipping seven Republican-held seats in the midterms, with two more on track to flip. Levin noted that several winners had defeated candidates Schumer preferred in Democratic primaries.

The House Fight Has Its Own Limits

On Thursday, Schumer took credit for the party’s performance at the Center for American Progress. Democrats, he said, “fought the right battles in Congress, both to block the worst of the Trump agenda, and when we could not, to make clear who was to blame for the pain that people were feeling.” His remarks implicitly recalled Democrats’ eventual government shutdown last fall over the lapse of Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies.

In the House, Mark Ruffalo urged his nearly 8 million followers on X on Wednesday to sign a petition asking Democrats not to elect Jeffries as speaker. A liberal influencer with a paid partnership with Change.org created the petition. Jeffries’ political operation called it an “astroturfed pay-to-play scheme to sow division and lie about Leader Jeffries.” No House Democrat has stepped forward to try to prevent Jeffries from becoming the first Black speaker of the House.

A Democratic House aide told HuffPost Thursday that lawmakers’ office phones had been “blowing up” with callers opposed to Jeffries, but said the calls posed no serious threat. “In the House this just won’t be a thing, and Jeffries has a very strong case to make if it were a thing,” the aide said. The calls reach the offices. The leadership choice remains with the lawmakers.