Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has learned the hard way the angry progressive wing of his party wants political scalps, possibly now including his.
Schumer is still reeling from the liberal backlash against his vote, supported only by a small minority of his caucus, to keep the federal government open by allowing the Senate to pass a Republican spending bill.
Many, perhaps most, Democrats want the party’s elected officials to fight President Donald Trump on every possible front.
Schumer now finds himself in the position of many Republican congressional leaders before him: working at cross-purposes with the ideological wing of his party during a time of deep grassroots anger.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) clashed with both the Tea Party and the most Trump-friendly elements of the GOP during his years as majority and minority leader. He represented a different strain of conservatism than either of these factions and also frequently backed different candidates in contested Republican Senate primaries.
McConnell beat back challenges to his leadership role but voluntarily stepped down from the job before Trump returned to office. The Kentuckian more recently announced he would not seek reelection next year, making his seventh Senate term his last.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has also faced pressure from his right flank in the House Republican Conference on government funding fights, especially while former President Joe Biden was in office. Johnson was able to pass the most recent continuing resolution despite a razor-thin majority and the defection of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
Johnson told the Washington Examiner last year that a government shutdown “never works in favor of the party that brings it about.” That was likely a critical part of Schumer’s political calculus last week.
The Louisiana Republican got the gavel in the first place because a small group of House conservatives toppled his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy required more than a dozen ballots to be elected speaker and lasted in the office for less than 10 months.
Former House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan left Congress amid clashes with conservative lawmakers, such as those in the Freedom Caucus, over spending and other policy priorities.
On the other side of the aisle, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was generally able to keep congressional progressives in check. The first time she wielded the gavel, the Democrats’ House majority was fairly large. It was smaller the second time, especially when Biden became president. Pelosi has remained in Congress since giving up her leadership of House Democrats.
Neither Pelosi nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has exactly risen to Schumer’s defense. Asked by reporters if Senate Democrats should make a change in leadership, Jeffries replied, “Next question.”
“Democratic senators should listen to the women,” Pelosi said. “Appropriations leaders [Rep.] Rosa DeLauro [D-CT] and [Sen.] Patty Murray [D-WA] have eloquently presented the case that we must have a better choice: a four-week funding extension to keep the government open and negotiate a bipartisan agreement,” Pelosi said in a statement. “America has experienced a Trump shutdown before — but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse. Democrats must not buy into this false choice. We must fight back for a better way. Listen to the women, For The People.”
“Leader Schumer sees Leader Jeffries as a new leader who needs to learn a lot about the nuances of governing and negotiating,” Politico quoted a Democratic strategist tied to Pelosi as saying. “Jeffries sees Schumer as someone who has lost touch with the sentiment of the base and whose tactics and style are a relic of the past.”
The Democrats’ poll numbers have remained shockingly bad even as there has been softening in support for Trump’s handling of the economy and hiccups in his attempts to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Perhaps spooked by Trump’s popular vote win after years of making opposition to him coterminous with defending democracy, Democrats initially appeared reluctant to challenge his legitimacy compared to 2017. No Democratic lawmakers objected when Trump’s Electoral College win was certified by Congress, in contrast with the response of some progressives to Republican victories in 2000, 2004, and 2016. Biden welcomed Trump to the White House and attended his inauguration alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris, the defeated 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
SHINING ‘DAYLIGHT’ ON HOW DEMOCRATS BLEW THE 2024 ELECTION
But by the time Trump spoke to a joint session of Congress earlier this month, many Democrats were back in Resistance mode. From protests at Republican town hall meetings to attacks on all things related to Elon Musk, there were signs that elected Democrats might have been underestimating their base’s anger.
Schumer’s decision to cancel his ill-timed book tour suggests his own fear of the base’s anger.
