Van Hollen: I Will Challenge Schumer for Senate Majority Leader

Thursday on MS NOW’s “The Briefing,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said he plans to run for Senate majority leader against incumbent Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Host Jen Psaki said, “The question now is, does Senator Chris Van Hollen want to be the next Democratic leader in the Senate? A short time ago, I asked him if he’s planning to challenge Senator Schumer for that position. Here was his answer.”

Van Hollen said, “Yes, I am planning to run for the Senate majority leader. And let me tell you why. Because this is not about any one individual, but it is about answering the call of the American people. We saw a huge outburst of democracy on Election Day, red states, blue states, purple states. And it wasn’t only a rejection of Donald Trump and his corruption and his wars and his cruelty. It was also about a call for a larger change to take on a broken economic system that’s rigged in favor of the very wealthy against working people. And that’s fueled by a corrupt political system. And the call was really to reject the status quo and to reject business as usual. And to do that, I think we need new leadership.”

Psaki said, “As recently as Saturday, you said you weren’t planning to do this. But what has changed over the last couple of days?”

Van Hollen said, “What’s changed was the sense of how this is a generational opportunity for the Senate to respond to the call of the American people for change. The scale and scope of this victory, 56 Senate Democratic seats, really gives us a mandate and the votes to do big things.”

Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN