Chris Van Hollen takes on Schumer to lead the Democrats

Well, the midterms definitely shook some things up in D.C., and that shakeup seems to keep. Going forward with some pretty big news happening within the Democratic Party as Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen has formally announced that he is going to be challenging Chuck Schumer for the Democratic Senate majority leader position when the Democrats take control of that chamber in January. Now, we've kind of been talking about this for a couple of days. We brought it to you live when Bernie Sanders and Alyssa Slotkin gave a press conference talking Talking about how they will not be endorsing Schumer for that position. They are joined by a. Abdul El-Sayed from Michigan with that moving forward, and six other Democratic senators saying they won't do it either. What does this mean for the future of the Democratic Party? Well, that is why we're bringing in an expert, Rishi Baga, attorney and a Democratic political analyst. Thanks so much for joining us here on our program to talk about what is going on within the Democratic Party. Well, I'm thrilled to be here, Hayden. Thanks so much for having me. Absolutely. Now, I know when we were talking about this the other day, a lot of the reactions that we had in here were, oh, that's a little bit surprising. Chuck Schumer has been a pretty longstanding kind of icon there in the Democratic Party, holding that position for quite some time. What do you make of this shift kind of happening with a lot of Democrats saying they're not going to support his reelection? Well, I'm not particularly surprised. I think there were rumors of this sort of issue coming up even during the election, frankly, before the election. And one of the reasons why he's been criticized has just been there have been a lot of folks who don't believe he's fought back hard enough against the Trump agenda, right? Democrats want a strong fighter in there right now. They want somebody who, even as the minority leader, would have taken the fight against the Trump agenda. And just a lot of folks don't think that Chuck Schumer is up to the task. And I've been seeing some kind of similar criticism with Hakeem Jeffries about this kind of unfit to hold this position type of kind of look at it. But what does that mean in terms of like the voter base? Do you think that the voters themselves are also dissuaded with this leadership? Cuz I know that I've seen some conversation about this on social media. People are not too happy with Schumer and Jeffries as they support the Democratic Party. Yeah, I think that is the case. I think in particular with Chuck Schumer, there's probably a little bit more of an anger against him than with Hakeem Jeffries. I can look to a couple of the different fights that came up. I'll give you an example. When the Trump administration decided to take a fight against Harvard University, for example, and defunding a lot of the federal money that went to that university, at that time they asked, what's the Senate gonna do about this? And Chuck Schumer wrote, said, we're going to write a really strongly worded letter. letter against President Trump and ask him why he's doing this action. So a lot of folks want somebody who's gonna bring that fight. And so they wanna see that both in, whether it's Chuck Schumer or whether it's Chris Van Hollen or anyone else who jumps into the Senate majority race, or whether it's Hakeem Jeffries or someone else who comes forward as far as the Speaker of the House position goes. So I think people wanna see that fight. Democrats certainly have felt that that fight has not been in the party for a long time. And this is their opportunity to try to elect a fighter or at least push these two candidates who are coming in on top at this point to take a more aggressive position against the Trump administration. Now, do you think this is a smart move for Senator Van Hollen to potentially ruin his reputation with Senate leadership if he doesn't think he's gonna win? Well, he's got some important backers, and I think that that's important to know, right? Certainly he has Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders has, I think, increasingly become a vocal and powerful voice within the Senate and within the Democratic Party at large. Even though he is technically an independent, he has really swayed the Democratic Party in some important ways and tried to introduce this sort of fight. I will say Chris Van Hollen is part of what they call the Fight Caucus or Fight Club in Senate amongst Democrats, basically Democratic senators who are willing to fight hard against the Trump administration. So I think there is an appetite for folks who are going to take that more aggressive approach. Abdul Al-Sayed, who's coming in as a kind of a new and rising superstar within the Democratic Party, having won a tough race in Michigan, he has also already announced that he would support Chris Van Hollen. So I think he's got some important supporters there. I don't necessarily think he will ruin his reputation. So much though, whether or not he wins, I think that there's a chance that even his candidacy will sway the direction of whoever ultimately becomes a majority leader. And if not Van Hollen, who do you think would be a good person to fill that position? If not Chuck Schumer, should he not be reelected? Well, there have been some names that have been thrown out. The only name that I can think of offhand that I know has been thrown around was Alyssa Slotkin, Senator Alyssa Slotkin. She was a name that came up. There was some recent press where they asked if she would be supporting Chuck Schumer. She stated she wouldn't be. And she indicated that she would not be willing to take herself out of the running for that position. So that would certainly be momentous to have a female and certainly one who's very powerful. Within the Democratic Senate caucus, somebody who might rise, that's another name that would be an interesting one to consider. Interesting indeed. I think that would be pretty cool to see a woman in that position. Now, my last question for you, Rishi, we've talked a little bit about Hakeem Jeffries and kind of the dissatisfaction that a lot of Democratic voters have with not just Schumer, but with him as well. Do you think we'll see a similar move as it pertains to his position in the House? I would not be surprised at all if you at least see one other candidate come up. And again, whether or not the candidate is ultimately successful, you know, I do think that you will see other names that are floated out there, if only for the purpose of trying to move. Thank you. him into a more aggressive position, because I think there is a real appetite to use the power that Democrats have recently, you know, won through this last election and use it in an aggressive way against the Trump administration. So Hakeem Jeffries, even if it is him, he's going to have to show that he's willing to bring that fight to the Trump administration. I will say one interesting thing about Leader Jeffries is that he is African-American. It would be momentous also to have somebody who is. Black in that position would be the first black Speaker of the House. And so I think for a lot of Democrats, that symbolic value is pretty important as well. So I think that he, you know, maybe his fight's a little bit different than Chuck Schumer's, especially because he has tried to show a little bit more of a fight in other administration standoffs between Speaker, sorry, Leader Jeffries as well as the Trump administration. But it'll be interesting to see. I wouldn't be surprised if you see more names floated out there. there and ultimately we'll see who takes that spot Well, we'll see what happens. I know there have already been some pretty huge shakeups after those midterms and it seems like they are not stopping now. So Rishi Baga, attorney and Democratic political analyst, we always appreciate having you on to kind of break down these complex political issues happening on Capitol Hill and in DC. It's my pleasure. Thanks so much, Hayden. A pleasure seeing you.