Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on Thursday that he would challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in the race to be senate majority leader when the Democrats take over the upper chamber in January.
Van Hollen, who has become one of the leading critics of Israel in the Democratic Party, said that the body needs “new leadership” in his bid to replace Schumer, who has been the top Democrat in the Senate for nearly a decade.
“In this election, Americans called on us to unrig an economy rigged against working people and fueled by political corruption,” Van Hollen stated. “This isn’t about any one person. It’s about answering that call.”
Van Hollen’s leadership challenge may appeal to Democrats on the party’s left flank, where progressives have long accused Schumer of having insufficient zeal in opposing U.S. President Donald Trump and of stymieing their preferred political agenda.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with the Democrats, and Democratic senators-elect Abdul El-Sayed, of Michigan, and Peggy Flanagan, of Minnesota, have said that they will back Van Hollen.
El-Sayed cited Van Hollen’s positions on Gaza as one reason for his support.
“When he chose to go to the Rafah Crossing, that was a real risk,” El-Sayed told PBS News Hour on Thursday. “He’s shown his willingness to take those risks.”
Van Hollen travelled to the Rafah Crossing, the primary entry point for aid into Gaza, in 2024 and in 2025.
In a statement after his 2024 trip, he said that “Israel has every right to eliminate the military threat of Hamas” but also demanded a “humanitarian cessation of hostilities” to address the “unacceptably high levels of civilian casualties.”
Since then, he has become one of the leading critics of Israel in the Senate, backing legislation to block arms sales to the Jewish state and leading the effort to strip out provisions for U.S.-Israel defense cooperation from the annual defense authorization bill.
After his 2025 visit to the Middle East, Van Hollen released a report titled “The Netanyahu government is implementing a plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians” and subtitled “America is complicit” and “the world must stop it.”
Schumer claimed on Thursday that he has enough votes to defeat any challenge for majority leader.
Some of those backers pointed to his role in securing at least 55 Senate seats for Democrats in the midterm elections.
“Chuck Schumer is one of the principal architects of the most successful election in modern history, and I see no reason to change the leadership that helped make that success possible,” stated Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats. “Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?
