It’s official, the Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen announced on Thursday that he will challenge New York Senator Chuck Schumer for Senate Majority Leader.
“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,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
Democratic senators will hold a vote on December 1 to choose their leadership for the next Congress. That vote is held behind closed doors and requires a simple majority of the caucus.
Progressive donors and organizations including MoveOn, Indivisible and the Working Families Party plan to back and mobilize members on behalf of Van Hollen. They are threatening to back primary challenges against any Democratic senator up for re-election in 2028 who does not come out in support of him.
Schumer maintains he has commitments of support from well over a majority of Democrats for re-election.
Van Hollen is 67, while Schumer is 75, but both have spent decades in Congress.
Van Hollen served in the House beginning in 2003, and was elected to the Senate in 2016.
Schumer was first elected to the House in 1980 and moved up to the Senate in 1999.