Sen. Van Hollen to run for majority leader

Some Senate Democrats are facing a new leadership battle as they prepare to take control of Congress next year. Senator Chuck Schumer, now the minority leader, is being challenged over his plans to become the new majority leader. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is running to replace Schumer and says the midterm election results show that change is needed. Yes, I am planning to run for the Senate Majority Leader. The call was really to reject the status quo. We're Democrats. We always have difference of opinions, and everyone's going to express it, and we'll see what happens. There's a lot of time between now and then. I don't see a problem with it. Now, Senator Schumer posted on social media he already has the votes to continue serving as the Senate Democratic leader. However, progressive leaders like Senator Bernie Sanders and incoming Senator Abdul El-Sayed are backing Van Hollen and they're pushing for leadership change. And to talk more about that this morning, we're joined by political science professor David Schultz from Hamline University in Minnesota. Professor Schultz, always good to see you. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me again. Yes. So what's your feel for what's happening in this battle to take over the Democratic majority in the Senate? What do you think? Well, what I think at this point is that this is a continuation of a battle that's been really simmering for at least during the election cycle, if not for the last couple of years, between the more progressive Democrats versus the more establishment Democrats. And a lot of the pushback against Schumer goes back to earlier, I think maybe last year, where they felt like Schumer, that has been in the progressives, wasn't fighting or taking on Trump hard enough. And so now they're saying, we need new leadership. We need somebody who can be more aggressive. And we're looking for, basically, a change of guard at this point. And that's really what the battle is about. It's about tactics. I think it's less about ideology, and more it's about tactics and, let's say, persona, personality. Hey, you look at strong progressive leaders like Bernie Sanders and others like that and Syed. How strong are they? Could they force that change on Chuck Schumer? It doesn't look like it at this point, because the other thing that Schumer has going for him at this point is the fact that the Democrats won. They took back control of the Senate, and it's a sense in which he's going to be viewed as what? A victor, as somebody who got him back in power. And it makes it hard to dislodge somebody who's perceived as a winner. So it's an incredible uphill battle at this point, I think, for the progressives. All right. Well, we will see. I did want to get your opinion on that. And I thank you for being with us. David Schultz, our political science professor of Hamline University, thank you for being with us on Mornings on 2. My pleasure. Thank you.