Democrats won the Senate last week. Now they have to decide who runs it. Here's who Chris Van Hollen is, the best case for making him leader, and the best case against.
Analysis | By Joseph J. Jackson | NATIONAL (Nov. 11, 2026)
The short version
The move: Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland says he's "actively calling" colleagues about challenging Chuck Schumer. He hasn't formally declared.
The case for: He fights: El Salvador, Gaza, DOGE, ICE. The party's base is angry at Schumer.
The case against: Schumer just won the Senate, and Van Hollen keeps saying he wants a 2028 run.
What's next: Democrats pick their leader by secret ballot, expected in December. Schumer needs a simple majority.
Chuck Schumer says he'll be reelected leader. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland says there "should be no coronation," and as of Monday he was "actively calling my colleagues" about a challenge, HuffPost reported. He hasn't filed. Nobody has. But he's the only senator who has signaled he might. (Our Nov. 10 story has the latest.)
So who is he, and should he get the job? Here's the record and the best case on each side.
Who he is
Van Hollen was born Jan. 10, 1959, in Karachi, Pakistan, where his father was a U.S. Foreign Service officer. His father later served as ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He went to Swarthmore, the Harvard Kennedy School and Georgetown Law, then worked for Republican Sen. Charles Mathias and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Maryland: House of Delegates 1991–95, state Senate 1995–2003.
U.S. House: Beat Republican Connie Morella in 2002 and served seven terms, 2003–17.
Party jobs: Ran the House Democrats' campaign arm (DCCC) 2007–11 and the Senate Democrats' (DSCC) for the 2018 cycle. Top Democrat on the House Budget Committee across from Paul Ryan.
Senate: Won in 2016 with 60.9%, reelected in 2022 with 65.8%. His term runs through January 2029.
His list of laws is short. The ABLE Act, which created savings accounts for people with disabilities, is the big one. His name nationally comes from fights:
He flew to El Salvador in April 2025 to push for the return of wrongly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He was stopped short of the CECOT prison and met Abrego Garcia elsewhere.
He's the Senate's loudest Democratic critic of U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza. In May he called for recognizing a Palestinian state. His West Bank resolution got 47 votes in September.
He calls the Iran war "an illegal war" and opposed the roughly $70 billion supplemental.
He fought the DOGE firings of federal workers and backed holding DHS money to force ICE reforms.
In June he said he's "kicking the tires" on a 2028 run for president.
Six days, four answers
Nov. 5–6: "I'm not seeking the Democratic leadership position... You can't do both," meaning leader and a 2028 run.
Nov. 7: "There should be no coronation."
Nov. 9: "Active listening mode."
Nov. 10: "Actively calling my colleagues."
The case for Van Hollen
He fights. That's the pitch from Indivisible, RootsAction and the 100,000-plus people who signed petitions to replace Schumer. Indivisible's Ezra Levin says Van Hollen is "draftable and could win." The El Salvador trip, made despite warnings from fellow Democrats, is Exhibit A.
He's not part of the primary machine. Van Hollen says Sens.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota "would not be in the Senate" if Schumer's campaign committee had its way. Schumer's side backed El-Sayed's primary opponent. Van Hollen also accuses the committee of siding with crypto and AIPAC in primaries; that's his claim and hasn't been independently confirmed. El-Sayed is the only incoming senator backing Van Hollen by name.
He knows how to run campaigns. He's chaired both party campaign committees.
The base is done with Schumer. Schumer voted for the GOP stopgap in March 2025 and took the blame for the fall 2025 shutdown deal. A YouGov/Economist poll taken Nov. 4–6 put him at 23% favorable, 54% unfavorable among registered voters. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday, "I will not be supporting Chuck." Elissa Slotkin is "a no until and unless" she sees a new plan. At least six senators-elect won't commit to Schumer: Adam Hamilton (Kan.), Troy Jackson (Maine), El-Sayed, Flanagan, Juliana Stratton (Ill.) and Annie Andrews (S.C.).
The case against
Schumer just won. Democrats flipped at least seven Republican seats, including Texas, Ohio and North Carolina, with Alaska and Mississippi still counting. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said delivering a Democratic Senate "certainly justifies another term." Sen. Ron Wyden: "You can't argue with results." Sen. Mark Kelly says he'll back Schumer. Schumer says, "I'm confident I will be elected majority leader."
The math. It's a secret ballot and Schumer needs a simple majority, roughly 28 of 54 to 56 votes. Even if every senator who has publicly balked votes no, he still has room. A prediction market gave Schumer 89% odds on Nov. 10. HuffPost's reporter called a successful challenge "highly unlikely."
Van Hollen keeps saying he wants something else. "You can't do both" are his words. El-Sayed himself said Van Hollen "seems like he's quite interested in another goal politically." He's never held a Senate leadership post. Brian Schatz is chief deputy whip and running for whip with Schumer's endorsement.
He's not a generational change. He's 67. Schumer is 75. If the argument is new blood, Chris Murphy is 53.
His DSCC year. Republicans picked up two seats in 2018 while he ran the committee. His defenders point out that Democrats were defending 10 seats in Trump states that year and still flipped Arizona and Nevada.
Israel. AIPAC accused him of feeding "antisemitic tropes" after he said at J Street that AIPAC is neither "pro-American" nor "pro-Israel." Schumer calls fighting for aid to Israel a core duty. From the right, Trump said Van Hollen "looked like a fool" in El Salvador.
What happens next
Democrats vote behind closed doors, expected in December. No date is set. History favors the man holding the job. Lawton Chiles challenged Robert Byrd in 1984 and fell short. Senate leaders have more often been pushed out, as Trent Lott was in 2002, than beaten in a caucus vote.
That's why the real question may not be whether Van Hollen wins. It's what a challenge forces: a contested vote instead of a coronation, a plan Slotkin can sign onto, limits on the party meddling in primaries, or a promise from Schumer that this is his last term.
And for Van Hollen, filing likely means giving up a 2028 run. Not filing leaves the anti-Schumer senators without a candidate.
Schumer's office and Van Hollen's office are welcome to respond at j@floridamannewsnetwork.com.
Sources
Graphic: Florida Man News Network