Van Hollen Challenges Schumer for Senate Majority Leader

Senate Democrats haven't even taken over the chamber yet, and they already have a leadership fight. Chris Van Hollen is challenging Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader, the Maryland senator announced Thursday night, making official a bid that progressives and some newly elected senators had been pushing him toward.

"It's now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership," Van Hollen said in his statement. "This is not about any one person."

Schumer answered on X within hours. He said he welcomed the discussion, pointed to the size of the new majority and said flatly that he has the votes to stay on as leader, NBC News reported.

Why Van Hollen is running now

Democrats came out of the midterms with a bigger Senate majority than many expected, including Scott Colom's upset in Mississippi. Van Hollen's case is that voters asked for change from the party too, not just from President Donald Trump.

His team told NBC News he would push the new majority to use every tool it has to end the Iran war, starting with the government funding measure Congress has to pass to avoid a shutdown in December. He also wants to reverse Trump's "big, beautiful bill," get money out of politics and go after corruption.

On timing, he's drawing a line against waiting for January. "We should do it now," Van Hollen told MS NOW's Jen Psaki on Thursday, according to The Hill.

Who's backing Van Hollen and who's sticking with Schumer

Van Hollen told MS NOW that more than 10 senators have pledged to support him. He also called himself the underdog, and said the point of going public is to make colleagues pick a side.

Here's where the public names stand so far:

Sanders had said Tuesday he wouldn't support Schumer and wrote Thursday night that voters want a party that will "take on the billionaire class." El-Sayed said he first urged Van Hollen to run back in April.

Schumer's defenders credit him with the midterm wins. King compared replacing him now to firing a manager right after a World Series title. Gillibrand, who ran the Senate Democrats' campaign arm this cycle, said earlier in the week that Schumer had made sure there was money to help register 100,000 new voters in Mississippi.

How the leadership vote works

It's a caucus vote, not a floor vote, and it happens behind closed doors by secret ballot. The winner needs a simple majority of Democratic senators.

The date isn't nailed down in reporting yet. NBC News says the vote comes in December. The Hill reported it's scheduled for Jan. 4, after the new Congress is sworn in.

Two long careers

Van Hollen, 67, has been in the Senate since 2017 after winning his seat in 2016, and served in the House starting in 2003. Schumer, 75, was first elected to the House in 1980 and moved to the Senate in 1999. He was majority leader from 2021 to 2025 and has led the caucus since 2017.

Age is part of the argument. The Hill noted Schumer will be 76 by the time of the vote.

This isn't the only post-election shakeup on Capitol Hill. House Republicans already settled theirs this week, when Jim Jordan beat Steve Scalise for minority leader. NBC News called Van Hollen's bid likely the most serious challenge Schumer has faced for the job, and it means Democratic senators will now have to say whether they want him to keep it.