{"id":97594,"date":"2026-11-12T12:42:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T17:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=97594"},"modified":"2026-11-12T12:42:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T17:42:55","slug":"a-new-crop-of-democrats-is-coming-to-the-senate-to-challenge-schumer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/a-new-crop-of-democrats-is-coming-to-the-senate-to-challenge-schumer\/","title":{"rendered":"A new crop of Democrats is coming to the Senate to challenge Schumer"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOSEPH STRAUSS<\/p>\n

(New York Jewish Week <\/em>via JTA) \u2014 The clock may be running on Chuck Schumer, the most senior Jewish elected official in U.S. history as Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats in midterm elections last week. The Democratic takeover of the Senate has led to some carping that he is too old, moderate or not aggressive enough against President Donald Trump to continue as leader.<\/p>\n

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters following a Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Building on November 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Schumer has led the Senate\u2019s Democratic caucus since 2017, including as majority leader from 2021 until 2025. A pro-Israel stalwart who prides himself as a Shomer Yisrael (\u201cguardian of Israel\u201d), Schumer has found himself increasingly out of step on Israel-related matters with the party\u2019s caucus and its voters. Progressives are also pushing for a bolder agenda that includes policies such as Medicare for All, which Schumer has not taken up. <\/p>\n

No senator has launched an official opposition bid ahead of December\u2019s leadership election, but one name has generated buzz: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, an outspoken critic of Israel who has led efforts to investigate the country\u2019s human right practices and pressure its right-wing government. He has drawn blowback from some Jewish leaders in recent years over his criticism of Israel and of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group.<\/p>\n

Van Hollen told reporters on Monday that he is in \u201clistening mode\u201d and \u201chasn\u2019t shut the door\u201d on a potential leadership bid, after previously saying he was too busy kicking the tires on a 2028 presidential run.<\/p>\n

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed have both said they would back Van Hollen if he runs. 59% of Democratic voters said they want \u201csomeone else\u201d to lead Senate Democrats versus 22% who prefer Schumer, according to a poll commissioned last month by a progressive PAC.<\/p>\n

Political strategist Hank Sheinkopf told JTA that a Van Hollen leadership would \u201cmove the Senate more to the left, unquestionably,\u201d and cautioned that Van Hollen would \u201cpermit\u201d discussions that would jeopardize defensive military assistance to Israel.<\/p>\n

But he noted that it was difficult to imagine Van Hollen winning the leadership position for a number of reasons, not least of which, the Democrats just retook control of the Senate on Schumer\u2019s watch. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnless the entire [class of] new Senate members are completely disloyal, it\u2019s hard to imagine them saying no to Chuck Schumer and yes to Van Hollen,\u201d he said. \u201cSchumer just raised an extraordinary amount of money, has probably extracted pledges from them for committee positioning. You know, this is straight-ahead politics, not about ideology and not about Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schumer, long an ally of Israel, broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March 2024 when he said on the Senate floor that Netanyahu had \u201clost his way\u201d and called for the country to hold new elections. Schumer also called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said the U.S. should use its leverage to push for its goals in the region if Netanyahu remains in power.<\/p>\n

But Schumer\u2019s leadership since then has not quieted critics who say that he should have done more to exert pressure on the Israeli government during its military campaign in Gaza and West Bank settlement expansion. He is among the small minority of Senate Democrats who have continued to vote against Bernie Sanders-led resolutions blocking weapons sales to Israel; all but seven out of 47 voted with Sanders earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Van Hollen, meanwhile, has consistently voted to block those transfers and has said he would oppose selling offensive weapons to Israel \u201cso long as Israel is violating international law and American law.\u201d Van Hollen also said this year that there is \u201can important distinction\u201d between selling offensive and defensive weaponry, and that he supports selling components for the Iron Dome missile system given that Israel is in \u201ca tough neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hadar Susskind, president and CEO of progressive Zionist group New Jewish Narrative, told JTA that Van Hollen would \u201cmeet the moment\u201d and \u201cprioritize and steer toward real, meaningful things that can leverage U.S. influence\u201d as majority leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he has always been and remains a proponent of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship \u2014 but one that is different than what we\u2019ve seen between Trump and Netanyahu,\u201d Susskind said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people who perhaps would stand up there and simply say, \u2018OK, the Israeli government\u2019s been doing bad and we don\u2019t support it.\u2019 Van Hollen is much more thoughtful than that,\u201d Susskind said.<\/p>\n

Van Hollen was long seen as a pro-Israel politician in his time as a Maryland congressman, though pro-Israel groups criticized him after he called for a ceasefire to end the 2006 Lebanon war. <\/p>\n

In 2019, he opposed anti-BDS legislation, clarifying on the Senate floor that he disagrees with boycotting Israel but asserting that people should not be punished by the government for doing so. Schumer supported that legislation, which facilitated states\u2019 ability to pass laws banning business with supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.<\/p>\n

Van Hollen has taken a more vocally critical stance on Israel and the pro-Israel lobby since the Israel-Hamas War started in 2023. Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, took aim at Van Hollen\u2019s outspoken criticism of the Israeli government during a JCRC event last year, which prompted a Van Hollen spokesperson to call Halber an \u201capologist for the Netanyahu government\u201d who is out of step with his constituents. Halber called the comment \u201claughable\u201d and other Jewish leaders responded with outrage, while Susskind rushed to Van Hollen\u2019s defense, saying he had \u201calways been there for his Jewish constituents and in support of the people of Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n

Speaking at this year\u2019s J Street national convention, held in Washington by the liberal Jewish Middle East advocacy group, Van Hollen panned AIPAC and said that it is neither pro-Israel nor pro-American, drawing pushback from some Jewish leaders.<\/p>\n

Neither AIPAC nor J Street returned a request for comment on the possible battle for leadership in the Senate.<\/p>\n

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Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, in 2018. (Michael Brochstein\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

J Street\u2019s president Jeremy Ben-Ami has written positively about Van Hollen, calling him \u201ca true friend of Israel\u201d in a 2024 opinion piece for the Washington Jewish Week. The piece came in response to an editorial claiming that Van Hollen is \u201cnot our friend\u201d because of his \u201cself-righteous spewing of anti-Israel accusations and positions,\u201d and Ben-Ami countered by pointing to Van Hollen\u2019s record of voting to send \u201ctens of billions of dollars\u201d in aid to Israel. <\/p>\n

Van Hollen voted yes on a $14 billion security assistance package to Israel in February 2024, even as he accused the country of committing \u201cwar crimes.\u201d (Van Hollen has since accused Israel of \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d and said he agrees with organizations and scholars who say that Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza meet the legal standard for genocide.)<\/p>\n

This week, Van Hollen led a letter signed by a dozen Senate Democrats, addressed to House and Senate leadership, about the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, urging them to remove provisions on U.S.-Israel military and intelligence cooperation. <\/p>\n

Senate Democrats will pick their next majority leader in a December vote. A number of them have said they want new leadership and a fresh voice to steer the caucus and direct its legislative agenda. <\/p>\n

Still, Schumer says he is \u201cconfident\u201d that he will win the leadership election. Jim Kessler, vice president of the Democratic think tank Third Way and a former Schumer aide, agrees with him.<\/p>\n

Kessler told JTA in an email that it\u2019s \u201chard to imagine anyone mounting a serious challenge to Schumer after he led the most successful midterm for Democrats in 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can say, well look at me, I was the leader when we had this big win,\u201d said Democratic strategist Steve Jarding, in a JTA interview.<\/p>\n

Schumer played an active role in recruiting candidates who won Senate seats in red and purple states, such as Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Josh Turek in Iowa and Scott Colom in Mississippi. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine them saying no to Schumer and yes to Van Hollen,\u201d said Sheinkopf, who pointed out that a number of the new Senate Democrats are moderates.<\/p>\n

Progressive critics have said Schumer\u2019s choices were too old and too moderate, and pointed out that his top choices in Michigan (Rep. Haley Stevens) and Maine (Gov. Janet Mills) were unsuccessful. Van Hollen said during an event on Tuesday that Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee \u201csided with the crypto industry and AIPAC against\u201d a pair of progressives who were elected, including presumably El-Sayed. (The Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC spent $30 million boosting El-Sayed in that election after he won the primary.)<\/p>\n

Jarding, a past executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, opined that it would be \u201cgood for the party\u201d for another senator to \u201cemerge and at least test Schumer.\u201d Should that happen, Jarding said, the leadership race could be \u201cmuch closer than people think.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people in that caucus that want a change. They may not say it publicly, but I know people in that caucus that want a change,\u201d Jarding said.<\/p>\n

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who is Jewish, has said she would \u201ccertainly not vote for\u201d Schumer without seeing a satisfactory 100-day plan from him, according to Politico.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan said one day after her election that \u201cit\u2019s time for new leadership.\u201d She has not said who she would support instead of Schumer, but told Politico that she has been \u201cvery impressed by Senator Van Hollen\u2019s leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incoming freshmen Troy Jackson of Maine and Juliana Stratton of Illinois have explicitly said that they would not support Schumer, while Annie Andrews of South Carolina says it is \u201ctime for a generational change on both sides of the aisle.\u201d New Hampshire Senator-elect Chris Pappas has been noncommittal, saying that \u201cthis is a moment to see a passing of the torch.\u201d<\/p>\n

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