Chuck Schumer Is Facing a Biden Moment
The problem wasn’t just the sellout. It was the sense that he lacked vigor.
Chuck’s Turn in the Barrel
SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER’S handling of the government funding fight has caused such damage to his standing in the party that even supporters were privately discussing this week whether it represented the nadir of his lengthy political career.
It wasn’t because they felt Schumer had erred in shepherding a House Republican-authored bill to passage in the Senate. It was how feeble he appeared to be in the process—a leader in title but not spirit.
They weren’t alone in that assessment. Among scores of Democrats we talked to this week, there was a genuine belief that Schumer may become the next victim of what is colloquially now known as the Joe Biden treatment.
The senator isn’t infirm nor does he face questions about his cognitive abilities, as the ex-president did. But he does now face the perception that his sensibilities are antiquated; that his political dexterity has faded; and, most importantly, that he lacks the vigor to take on Donald Trump.
These assessments can be overwrought in the moment. But what struck me wasn’t just how angry Democrats were with Schumer, it was which Democrats were angry.
Within minutes of the Democratic leader’s Thursday night remarks announcing he would vote for the Republican government-funding bill to avert a shutdown, grassroots groups were calling for him to step aside. Sitting lawmakers trashed Schumer on social media. And House Democrats across the ideological spectrum—who gathered in Leesburg, Virginia for their annual retreat—were fuming.
“It’s an Eric Cantor-like mistake,” one Democratic member of Congress told The Bulwark, referencing the former House GOP leader who was ousted by a Tea Party challenger in a shocking 2014 primary. The member said Schumer seemingly had failed to grasp how desperate the party’s voters were for its leaders to take a stand against Trump. The misstep was not so much in voting for the funding bill, it was in pledging to fight and then so quickly acquiescing.
“It will haunt him,” the member said.
It is a cruel irony for Schumer. Almost exactly eight months ago, he was the one sitting down with Joe Biden at the then-president’s beach house, urging him to step aside. Now, the 74-year-old Senate leader is the one being painted as too geriatric—with calls for him to give up his leadership growing louder and more impassioned.
Though never regarded as a progressive, and long past his 1980s and ’90s reputation as a pugnacious House member, Schumer at least was widely considered a skillful tactician in the Senate. He has a well-earned reputation for being voracious and savvy with his media engagement. And his work as the leader of an incredibly thin Senate Democratic majority during Biden’s term yielded major legislative wins and a revamped judiciary.
But leading the opposition party requires a different approach. And many Democratic officials are skeptical he can summon it. There is a belief, born from the 2024 election results, that the party must make a generational purge, ridding itself of leaders who have grown too comfortable in their cushy Washington careers.
A handful of Democratic senators (78-year-old Jeanne Shaheen, 66-year-old Gary Peters, and 67-year-old Tina Smith) have forfeited the power of incumbency and announced their retirements. But it’s clear some voters don’t want to wait until the 2026 midterms to run the old guard out; some are itching for change now.
“With regard to him stepping down, should somebody try to run against him—I’ve been surprised. It feels more real than in past times when people were just angry at a decision made by leadership,” veteran Democratic strategist Karen Finney told The Bulwark. “People are feeling like there hasn’t been a strategy from, frankly, January—certainly on the Senate side.”
Schumer, for now, is holding his ground. “Let me put it this way: I know how to win seats back in the Senate, which I’ve proven,” he told the New York Times, when asked if he was the right leader for this moment.
Those who know him well also say it’s impossible to imagine that he will step down. But he has an incredibly rocky path ahead.
Few leaders are coming to his defense (asked on Friday if Schumer should step down, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded: “Next question”). Some Senate Democrats even anonymously aired concerns about his leadership to CNN over the weekend.
More ominously, some Democrats are plotting his demise.
The member of Congress who spoke with The Bulwark said a dozen representatives from across the ideological spectrum urged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to primary Schumer at the caucus retreat on Thursday evening. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t latch on to the idea, the member said. But she didn’t dismiss it either.
One Senate insider downplayed the primary talk, dismissing it as House members addicted to political fanfic. They noted that Schumer isn’t even up for re-election until 2028. And not everyone in the party is convinced that ousting Schumer is the best path forward. For one, it’s unclear who would replace him. The second-ranking Senate Democrat is Dick Durbin, who, at 80 years old, doesn’t solve the generational problem. Neither does the third-ranking Senate Democrat, 74-year-old Sen. Patty Murray.
“The last thing we need to do is throw the Democratic leader overboard at this point in time while we’re facing such a serious challenge,” said Jim Manley, a top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “Were mistakes made? Sure. Lots. Nobody’s blameless here. But we got to keep our eye on the prize.”
But Schumer land is hyper-aware of the precarious spot he is in. The senator moved quickly to do a series of interviews after he announced he would vote for the bill. And with Congress now on recess, allies are preparing for him to soon be under siege.
Schumer is kicking off a week-long book tour on Monday with stops in Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, Santa Monica, and Atlanta. It’s all but guaranteed that the events will be interrupted by frustrated protesters who would rather the highest-ranking Democratic official not be crisscrossing the country to hawk his latest book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning, as Trump continues to tear apart federal agencies.
Activist groups are already launching into action. Indivisible, the progressive grassroots organization, called for Schumer to step aside in a statement issued on Saturday. “Pass the Torch”—the campaign effort that popped up after Biden’s disastrous debate to urge him to step down—had no plans of becoming active again after Biden ended his re-election bid. But when Schumer announced he would vote with Republicans, the group’s leaders quickly fired up their email chains and group chats.
“[Schumer] doesn’t understand the moment and he doesn’t have the capacity to rise to the occasion and protect our country from fascism,” Aaron Regunberg, a former state representative from Rhode Island and a leader of Pass the Torch, told The Bulwark. “I don’t know any normie Democrat who is not completely disgusted and enraged by what Schumer has done. I’m getting messages from the most establishment party hack people I know who are like ‘what the fuck.’ There’s a clear consensus here that something needs to happen.”
🫏 Donkey Business:
— A pair of polls released Sunday underscore just how challenging the road ahead will be for Democrats. The party’s approval rating is plummeting, driven in large part by deep dissatisfaction among their own voters.
According to a CNN survey, the Democratic party’s favorability rating among all Americans stands at just 29 percent, a record low since the network started polling in 1992. NBC News found that just 27 percent of registered voters have a positive view of the party, also an all-time low since they started polling in 1990. Both polls were conducted before the Senate voted on the government-funding bill.
— The last edition of The Opposition explored the #TeslaTakedown movement and how Democrats were trying to make Elon Musk pay an economic price for DOGE. But getting involved in the protests has come with a price for some. My editor Sam Stein spoke with Valerie Costa, an activist who has helped organize demonstrations in the Seattle area. Costa found herself randomly targeted by Musk after a video of her doing an interview about the #TeslaTakedown movement made its way into his feed. Musk tweeted, with absolutely no foundation, that she “is committing crimes.” After that, she got a “flurry of texts from people” and began being targeted by online sleuths. She took down anything related to her family, warned her parents, and signed off.
“It feels like intimidation,” Costa told Sam. “There is a conflation in the national narrative of acts of vandalism and First Amendment rights to protest. To me that’s the scariest part. I’ve not committed vandalism, no group I’ve been associated with has, nor have they promoted vandalism. And we are continuing to make that clear. We are real believers in the power of collective action and protest. You can disagree with us. But we disagree with you.”
My open tabs:
— The Atlantic’s John Hendrickson spoke with Democratic leaders about their plan to close the gender gap and win back men.
— The oral history you didn’t know you needed about one of the greatest pieces of trash talk ever, from the Ringer’s Alan Siegel.
— Fintan O’Toole writes for the New Yorker about a new history of the Irish Potato Famine.
Biden part 2 - retire NOW. The sooner Dems move on, the better for the country.
We need new younger leaders. His time has passed. These old people are holding us hostage bc of their narcissism.
If Schumer knows how to win seats back in the Senate, then why didn’t he use that knowledge to hold on to them in November 2024? Not a smart comment on his part, IMHO.
‘Schumer, for now, is holding his ground. “Let me put it this way: I know how to win seats back in the Senate, which I’ve proven,” he told the New York Times, when asked if he was the right leader for this moment.’