One week after Democrats won the majority in Congress, the party's own Senate leader is fighting for his job. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is calling colleagues, accusing Chuck Schumer of siding with crypto and AIPAC, and a count published Monday suggests nearly half the incoming caucus is either gone or undecided.
Van Hollen Picks Up the Phone
Speaking Tuesday at the Popular Mandate national conference, Van Hollen told the crowd he is "listening to all the people from around the country that were calling for big change." Then he added the line that matters: "I am in the process right now of calling my colleagues." That is not what a man who plans to sit this one out says. That is a whip count, delivered in the voice of a guy at a church potluck.
His office has reportedly gotten an "outpouring of calls and is now in active listening mode," a source told Politico's Playbook. Active listening mode. Somewhere a Senate staffer is writing that phrase on a whiteboard and underlining it twice.
The New Republic reported Van Hollen has also started drafting an opposition platform. He has not formally committed to challenging Schumer, but nobody drafts a platform for fun. That is a campaign with the cameras still off.
The Crypto and AIPAC Problem
Van Hollen did not bother with a diplomatic windup. "We just saw democracy in America in action," he said. "We should bring a little more democracy to the United States Senate." He pointed to two newly elected senators who "would not be there if Schumer and the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] had their way."
Then he named names. Schumer and the DSCC, he said, "sided with the crypto industry" and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Those are two of the most well-funded forces in American politics, and a sitting Democratic senator just accused his own leader of picking them over the party's voters.
That is the whole critique in one sentence. The base showed up, won the majority, and found out the leadership had been backing different horses in their primaries.
Doing the Math on Schumer's Caucus
Here are the numbers. An analysis published Monday by Primary Democrats counts at least 10 senators or senators-elect who have peeled away from Schumer outright or shown interest in a different leader. Another 14 have not said whether they will back him. That is 24 Democrats out of at least 54 seats in the new Senate, nearly half the caucus.
Schumer needs a majority of his own caucus to hold the gavel. Right now, he cannot count on one.
Bernie Sanders has already warned Schumer that his days as Senate leader are numbered, per The New Republic's own coverage. When Bernie and a mild-mannered Maryland institutionalist are both circling you, you are not in a good spot.
Schumer Says Everything Is Fine
Schumer faced reporters Tuesday afternoon and went with confidence. "I'm confident I will be elected majority leader," he said. "Our caucus is really united in focusing on bringing down costs, on ending the corruption, on ending the chaos, on ending the war. We have great unity in our caucus."
Great unity. In the same news cycle that a Democratic senator is phoning colleagues about replacing him. In the same week that nearly half his incoming caucus has declined to say they will vote for him. Schumer is describing a party that exists only in his prepared remarks.
The man has one setting, and it is the same one he used when Democrats were in the minority. Press conference. Podium. Insist the room is on fire in a good way.
Van Hollen Also Dares Trump on the Iran War
Van Hollen did not stop at leadership gossip. On Tuesday, he declared the United States cannot spend "a penny more" on the Iran war. He dared Donald Trump to either stop funding it or face a possible government shutdown.
This is the other half of the pitch. Van Hollen is not just saying Schumer is too cozy with donors. He is saying the new majority should actually use its leverage, starting with a war that Schumer himself says the caucus wants to end.
Van Hollen's national profile took off last year when he traveled abroad to visit his constituent Kilmar Ábrego García, who had been illegally deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador's CECOT prison. He is a senator who showed up when it was inconvenient. Voters remember that.
Meanwhile, Trump's People Are Shredding Evidence
While Democrats argue over who holds the gavel, whistleblowers say Trump officials are destroying documents tied to the president's pet projects in Washington, D.C. CNN reported that whistleblowers warned House Democrats that key records are already gone, ahead of the January handover of Congress.
Representative Jared Huffman, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, plans to send letters to the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, other federal agencies, and private companies involved in the projects. The demand: "preserve all records and data responsive to oversight."
Nobody destroys paperwork they are proud of. Every shredded page is a confession that someone expects a subpoena.
The Dingo Take
Last Tuesday, Democrats were celebrating a majority. This Tuesday, their Senate leader is telling reporters he is "confident" while nearly half his caucus declines to promise him a vote. That is a week. Seven days from victory lap to leadership fight.
But the fight is not a distraction, and it is not infighting for sport. Van Hollen's argument is that a party elected on a wave of voter anger should not be led by a man whose political operation backed crypto and AIPAC over the candidates who actually won. You can disagree with that critique. You cannot say it is unserious. Voters handed Democrats power. They are entitled to ask whether the person holding the gavel will use it.
Meanwhile, the other side is shredding paper. Donald Trump's officials are reportedly destroying records before anyone with subpoena power takes office. Democrats have a chance to hold that administration accountable, and they need a Senate leader who wants the job. If Schumer is that guy, he has about two months to prove it. If he is not, 24 senators are already doing the math.
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