Overview
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced Thursday that he will run for Senate majority leader, making the first formal, high-profile challenge to Sen. Chuck Schumer in decades.
- Van Hollen told reporters he has secured commitments from more than 10 senators and called the caucus 'very much in flux,' while Schumer says he intends to run and believes he already has the votes to continue.
- The Democratic caucus will settle the contest by a closed, secret-ballot leadership vote in early December, so public declarations may not match private votes.
- Van Hollen frames his bid as a response to voters’ demand for change and has criticized Schumer and the DSCC for intervening in primaries and for ties to industry and interest groups; progressive outside groups such as Indivisible are campaigning against a Schumer 'coronation.'
- The outcome will shape who sets the Senate agenda on issues like economic populism, corruption and foreign policy and could alter how the party handles primary interventions and activist pressure going forward.