Sanders says the midterms called for a change in direction. Schumer says he has the support to lead the new majority.
By Maya Ellis | M•I•A MEDIA GROUP
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats won back the majority in the midterm elections. Now they have to decide who will lead it. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Tuesday he would oppose New York Sen. Chuck Schumer’s bid to remain the party’s leader, arguing that voters who gave Democrats control of the chamber expect a more forceful response to the cost of housing, health care and groceries.
“The time is now for change,” Sanders said at a Capitol news conference. The Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats, praised Schumer’s work ethic and said he had known him for more than 30 years. His objection was about what comes next. Sanders said he read the election results as a demand for Democrats to take a bolder economic agenda into the new Congress.
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who appeared alongside Sanders, set a condition of her own. She said she wanted any candidate for leader to lay out a concrete plan for the new majority before she would offer support. Slotkin said she was not actively seeking the job. Her position puts pressure on Schumer and any challenger to explain which measures they would bring to the floor first and how they would hold together a caucus whose members won in very different states.
Schumer makes his case to stay
Schumer, the current minority leader, told reporters he was confident he would be elected majority leader. He said Democrats were united around lowering costs, combating corruption and ending the war. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, defended his work. Schumer helped recruit candidates who won in states central to the party’s return to power, including former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.
The election also brought in Democrats who built their own coalitions. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary over a candidate Schumer favored and went on to win the general election. El-Sayed is among the progressives encouraging Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen to run for leader. Van Hollen has been calling colleagues as he weighs a challenge. How much support he could command remains unclear. Senate Democrats are expected to hold their leadership elections later this month.
What the leadership vote will determine
The majority leader has substantial influence over what reaches the Senate floor and when. That matters when several priorities are competing for time. A leader can move early on a bill to lower prescription drug costs, for instance, or devote floor time to a budget fight. The job also involves negotiating with senators whose votes may depend on changes to a bill and deciding when there is enough agreement to bring it forward.
For South Florida families trying to keep up with rent, groceries and medical bills, the practical question is which of those pressures the new Senate will address first. Sanders and Schumer have both put affordability at the center of their public remarks. Slotkin’s demand for a plan gives senators a way to test those commitments before they vote. The first bills the new majority brings to the floor will give voters a way to judge them, too.