Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s moment in the hot seat sparked debate on Capitol Hill about the senator’s ability to stand up to a second, more emboldened Donald Trump presidency. That moment has come and gone. But the loudest voices behind the calls for Schumer to step down have put him on watch.
After Schumer’s March vote to allow a GOP-led continuing resolution to advance and avoid a government shutdown, some Democrats — largely in the House and outside Congress — aired their frustration with the New York Democrat’s leadership.
To some in the party’s ranks, the angst toward the party leader was just a temporary flare-up rather than a moment for uprooting leadership. But others tell NOTUS it’s only a matter of time before the pressure on Schumer mounts again.
“I don’t think this call for Senate leadership to change is going to go away because it would actually require the Senate leader to demonstrate a lot more than what he’s demonstrated,” Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez told NOTUS.
Ramirez said “yes” when her constituents asked her at a Chicago town hall in March if Schumer should retire or step down from his role. She joined voices from the moderate and left wings of the party, which were united in their frustration against leadership over the government funding bill fight.
The mood has since shifted on the hill. Democrats were impressed with Sen. Cory Booker’s record-setting Senate floor speech protesting Trump. But Schumer’s critics are still watching his moves closely.
“I think it depends on what we’re going to do when the CR comes back up,” Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey told NOTUS when asked whether he wanted to see action on new Senate leadership. “We also have the big budget vote coming, and the impact of what Cory did is still kind of resonating. So, we’ll see how things play out.”
In March, Ivey told reporters, “It may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader.”
As NOTUS previously reported, Schumer’s strategy on the government funding bill riled up everyone from folks at the centrist think tank Third Way to the progressive climate-focused Sunrise Movement.
The latter staged a sit-in at Schumer’s office last month, demanding the minority leader to stop the CR and offering him an ultimatum: “Step up or step aside.” Leaders of the group say they plan to be consistent.
“We are going to keep putting the pressure on Chuck Schumer,” Stevie O’Hanlon, political director at Sunrise Movement, told NOTUS on Tuesday. “I think at this point he knows that his actions as we head into the reconciliation fight, for instance, and other CR fights later in the year, are being closely watched. We’re going to hold him accountable.”
Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The minority leader declared in March that he would not step down and that he is “the best leader of the Senate,” citing his ability to win seats.
Yet, there may be early signs that supporting or defecting from Schumer is becoming a litmus test among 2026 Democratic candidates for Senate.
Mallory McMorrow, a state senator in Michigan, has launched a bid to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters. She not only believes it’s time for Schumer to step back, but has stated that she would not vote for him as Democratic leader in the Senate if elected.
J.D. Scholten, a state representative in Iowa, is considering launching a bid to challenge Republican Sen. Joni Ernst next year. One factor causing him to second-guess running: Schumer remaining the caucus leader.
“While I’m considering running, I’m just wondering if we are going to meet this moment,” Scholten told NOTUS. “We’re not doing great under Schumer’s leadership, especially in the Midwestern states.”
Scholten considered launching a bid against Ernst in 2020, but instead opted to run for a House seat, which he ultimately lost by nearly 30 points. Schumer reportedly played a large role in clearing the field of potential Democratic candidates in that Senate primary in favor of Theresa Greenfield.
Still, Scholten is one of several Democrats who told NOTUS the backlash towards Schumer may not persist. If it does fizzle away, he said, then it’s unlikely to become an issue Senate candidates have to face.
“I work in politics and I know you have to give and take on some of this stuff,” Scholten said. “Maybe Schumer will bounce back and have a great rest of the cycle. All I can say is right now, it’s been a point where us, as a party, we’re struggling with people who are not willing to let go for generational change.”
With a reconciliation fight on the rise in Congress and Republicans poised to push through major tax cuts and potentially target safety net programs on a partisan basis, some Democratic strategists believe voters’ attention will move away from intra-party leadership battles.
“That feels, to me, like a flashpoint issue that flies and gets hot and then people move on,” said Morgan Jackson, an adviser to former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who Democrats are hoping will launch a Senate bid of his own. “What Democrats are really focused on is who the real enemy is: Trump, Elon Musk and these billionaire grifters who are screwing everyday working people.”
Real pressure for Schumer to step down would have to come from Senate Democrats themselves, and there aren’t many signs of that happening. When asked this week during an interview with “The View” whether he should become the minority leader himself, Booker said no and offered a strong endorsement of Schumer’s leadership, saying Schumer has “a record of success” and “a firm hold” on the 47 members of the caucus.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet went the furthest in suggesting new leadership, but even he stopped short of calling for Schumer to step aside, saying, “It’s important for people to know when it’s time to go.”
If the point of tension is solely around Schumer’s decision to not stand in the way of a Republican-led bill to keep the government open, some in the party argue the Democratic leader has a good argument to make.
“There wasn’t an obvious choice for Schumer,” a former Biden White House official told NOTUS. “It is a legitimate concern to worry about what somebody like Trump and Musk would do during a shutdown. I think some people were coming up with some intra-party fight to cause anger when the focus should be on the damage Republicans are doing.”
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Calen Razor is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.