Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is now “open” to running against Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for Senate Majority Leader in the next Congress, Punchbowl News congressional reporter Laura Weiss reports.

“Van Hollen has ‘received an outpouring of calls and is now in active listening mode,’ according to a person familiar w/ his thinking around leadership,” Weiss wrote.

“‘The door is not shut,’ the person added. Van Hollen is a leading progressive & has said he needs commitments from Schumer before agreeing to support him for another term as leader. The Maryland Democrat has also been eyeing a presidential run,” she continued.

Prior reports indicated he wasn’t looking to challenge Schumer for Senate Democratic leader after the party regains the majority.

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Van Hollen has been floated repeatedly as an alternative to Schumer (D-NY) by Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.), who reiterated his support for the Marylander in a separate interview earlier Thursday.

“I think he’d be an amazing Senate majority leader,” El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to the Senate, told CNN. “Of course, that’s a choice he has to make about whether or not he wants to pursue that. It seems like he’s quite interested in another goal politically.”

While Schumer has been a frequent target for criticism from disgruntled progressives, Van Hollen was the first to be floated as a named alternative to the Brooklyn Democrat, who is up for re-election in 2028.

“Whoever’s going to be the next majority leader in the United States Senate needs to make clear to the caucus that he or she is going to do everything within our power to end the illegal and senseless war in Iran and do it now,” Van Hollen told Fox 5 DC.

“I’ve made clear that I’m not looking to be the next Democratic leader,” Van Hollen said in a previous interview.

“I’ve been kicking the tires on a 2028 presidential election,” he added.

However, Van Hollen has emphasized he doesn’t think Schumer should automatically retain the role.

CNS Maryland shared further:

In an interview on Thursday with Fox 5 DC, Van Hollen declined to endorse the party’s longtime leader, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for majority leader.

“The major point is that we should have a discussion,” Van Hollen told the station.

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The spokesperson reaffirmed to CNS that Van Hollen believes the caucus first needs to have “an honest and open conversation” about how to move forward as a party.

In an interview with NPR last December, Van Hollen, who has been involved in Maryland politics for more than three decades, criticized the Democratic Party for being “the party of the status quo when people want to see us move in a different direction.”

The future of the party has come into sharper focus this week after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. As the current Democratic leader in the Senate, Schumer has received praise from Democrats for his handling of the midterm elections, but some progressives have called for new party leadership.

 

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