Chris Van Hollen will challenge Chuck Schumer to lead the new Democratic majority in the US Senate

The challenge

Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland, announced on Thursday that he will run for Senate majority leader, challenging Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democrats in the current Senate, the Guardian and Al Jazeera reported. Democrats will take the majority in January after this month’s midterm elections.

“In this election, the American people called for change. They called for a change from Donald Trump’s disastrous policies – but even bigger than that, a change from the status quo that isn’t working for working people.”

Chris Van Hollen, The Guardian World

“It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership,” he said in the statement. “This is not about any one person – it’s about answering the call of the American people.”

Schumer’s answer

Schumer replied less than a minute later in a social media post of his own, the Guardian reported.

“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together – 55 seats and counting is an amazing result – and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader.”

Chuck Schumer, The Guardian World

The contest pits Van Hollen, a progressive, against Schumer, a centrist. According to the Guardian it will be the first contested election for Democratic leader in decades, and many senators will not say publicly how they will vote. The ballot is secret and held behind closed doors in early December.

Who stands where

Michigan’s senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, who beat Schumer’s preferred candidate in the primary, was the first to back Van Hollen, Al Jazeera reported. El-Sayed said he had urged Van Hollen to run back in April “because he leads with courage and experience”.

Schumer has faced criticism over how he has led the caucus during the Trump presidency, Al Jazeera said, and the Guardian noted that Democratic voters have widely criticised him for failing to stand up to Trump. He recruited many of the party’s winning candidates and raised money for them, and told the Associated Press last week: “I’m going to win it.”

Van Hollen confronted the administration’s mass deportations in early 2025, when he went to El Salvador to check on Kilmar Ábrego, a constituent who had been wrongly deported there. This week he and 10 Senate colleagues urged congressional leaders to drop provisions in the annual defence bill that would expand weapons development and intelligence sharing with Israel, Al Jazeera reported.