{"id":30043,"date":"2026-08-06T17:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30043"},"modified":"2026-08-06T17:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:00:48","slug":"schumers-path-to-the-majority-runs-through-his-democratic-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30043","title":{"rendered":"Schumer&#039;s path to the majority runs through his Democratic critics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/KGVb8ymfhnz5npA4b_WAZK1oPiY=\/0x0:5265x2962\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/05\/1785973532392.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On a good day, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can see a Democratic majority in 2027.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> On a bad one, he can see the caucus that comes with it.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Abdul El-Sayed&#8217;s 48.5% to 47.5% <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/05\/michigan-senate-abdul-el-sayed-democrats\" target=\"_blank\">victory over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.)<\/a> exposed an uncomfortable reality for Schumer: Some of the Democrats most likely to deliver him a majority may also be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/03\/democrats-leader-2028-president-aoc-bernie-sanders\" target=\"_blank\">hardest to lead<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;If you&#8217;re Chuck Schumer, I&#8217;m dangerous,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DaMhOM0OXte\/\" target=\"_blank\">El-Sayed said during the campaign<\/a>. &#8220;If you&#8217;re AIPAC, I&#8217;m dangerous. If you&#8217;re a corporate PAC, I&#8217;m dangerous.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news:<\/strong> Schumer was quick to endorse El-Sayed Wednesday, like he did after Graham Platner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/10\/democrats-graham-platner-maine-senate-primary\" target=\"_blank\">clobbered his preferred candidate<\/a> in Maine. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;We look forward to working with Abdul and Democrats across Michigan to win this seat in November,&#8221; Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Democratic Senate campaign arm, said in a joint statement.<\/li>\n<li>El-Sayed didn&#8217;t directly comment on the endorsement Wednesday. &#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of healing to do after a hard-fought primary like this,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Always magnanimity in victory.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What we&#8217;re watching:<\/strong> The next test for Schumer comes Aug. 11 in Minnesota, where voters will choose between progressive favorite Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the preferred choice of the Democratic establishment.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s the Minnesota Nice version of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/09\/09\/schumer-bernie-sanders-2026-senate-primary-races\" target=\"_blank\">ugly proxy war<\/a> between the party&#8217;s two wings \u2014 with a twist. Unlike in Michigan or Maine, the Democratic nominee is all but certain to win in November.<\/li>\n<li>Flanagan, who leads in the polls, has declined to say whether she&#8217;d support Schumer for Democratic leader. <\/li>\n<li>Ditto Democrats&#8217; Texas nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, who has called for<strong> <\/strong>&#8220;new blood&#8221; in Washington.<\/li>\n<li>El-Sayed backs progressive Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) who  &#8220;has shown what effective leadership in the Senate looks like.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> Schumer&#8217;s problem is one most minority leaders would envy: He has several paths to the majority, even if he ends up with a few more detractors.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>And he isn&#8217;t overly concerned with candidates declining to pledge support for him before Election Day. His mantra: Just win.<\/li>\n<li>Two of the Democrats&#8217; best pick-up opportunities are Ohio and Alaska, where Schumer personally recruited former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) to run.<\/li>\n<li>And neither Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire nor former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina \u2014 who are both leading in polls \u2014 are anti-leadership firebrands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The bottom line:<\/strong> Schumer finds himself in the same boat as the man he wants to dethrone: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/29\/thunes-majority-leader-trump-conference-maga\" target=\"_blank\">Majority Leader John Thune<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Both will have freshman senators who owe their victories\u2014and perhaps their loyalties\u2014to political movements and constituencies beyond their orbit.<\/li>\n<li>But Schumer may have the better insurance policy. No one has expressed any public interest in the job.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a good day, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can see a Democratic majority in 2027. Why it matters: On a bad one, he can see the caucus that comes with it. Abdul El-Sayed&#8217;s 48.5% to 47.5% victory over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) exposed an uncomfortable reality for Schumer: Some of the Democrats most likely&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/KGVb8ymfhnz5npA4b_WAZK1oPiY=\/0x0:5265x2962\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/05\/1785973532392.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}