The Base Wants Someone Else. Schumer Has the Votes
Time · Philip Elliott ·
He's on track to become Senate majority leader, even as many in the party think he's wrong for this moment
Even before Democrats knew the size of their incoming Senate majority, there was agitation from the left against keeping Chuck Schumer as the party’s leader. But in the days after one of the party’s best elections in decades, the “Replace Schumer” effort is facing an obvious problem: an alternative candidate.
Schumer, who has steered Senate Democrats since 2017, became liberals’ favorite punching bag this cycle, an avatar of everything wrong with a listless Democratic Party. The ubiquitous New Yorker was, detractors said, too prone to seek compromise, too wary of committing to fights with President Donald Trump and his administration, too likely to cram so many messages onto an agenda that none of them landed. For a party that still remains unlikely to truly find its footing until it has a presidential nominee, Schumer was a convenient scapegoat for a coalition party in the minority.
“No one loves Chuck Schumer,” one victorious campaign consultant said this week. “But he’s the only guy who wants the job. At least right now.”