Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who became an early face of Democratic resistance to President Donald Trump in the Republican's second term in the White House, has emerged as a challenger to New York Sen. Chuck Schumer as their party picks a Senate majority leader.
Van Hollen, a two-term incumbent who previously represented the state in the House and in the legislature, launched his bid Thursday, casting himself as a new face that reflects the public's desire for change after the midterm campaign delivered Democrats control of the Senate and the House.
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“It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership. This is not about any one person — it’s about answering the call of the American people,” he said in a statement.
The election is set for early December and will be held behind closed doors, with voting done through secret ballot. Schumer, a five-term incumbent, has been the longtime leader of the caucus and serves as minority leader. He was majority leader from 2021 to 2025, during Democrat Joe Biden's presidency, and has projected confidence he has the votes to prevail.
Van Hollen has gotten support from a few high-profile members of the Democratic caucus. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has backed him, saying he leads with courage and experience, as has Michigan’s incoming senator, Abdul El-Sayed. Schumer had backed El-Sayed's primary challenger, Haley Stevens, who at the end of the general election campaign backed Republican Mike Rogers.
An attorney and legislator, Van Hollen was born in Karachi, Pakistan, amid his parents’ diplomatic service there, and he captured attention early in Trump’s second term when he pushed back against the administration’s immigration agenda.
He traveled some 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported and who federal courts said should be returned. Van Hollen did not secure the release of the Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland. But meeting with him, in defiance of Trump, Van Hollen helped establish hope and momentum for Abrego Garcia’s family and captured national press attention.
With Maryland home to numerous federal agencies and workers, Van Hollen has been a vocal opponent of Trump’s cuts, including those at NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.
He has also served as the Democratic chairman of both the House and Senate campaign arms, experience that put him at ground zero of the party's political operation.
