{"id":45127,"date":"2025-11-16T13:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T21:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45127"},"modified":"2025-11-16T13:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T21:13:13","slug":"why-arent-any-senate-democrats-calling-on-schumer-to-step-down-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/16\/why-arent-any-senate-democrats-calling-on-schumer-to-step-down-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Aren\u2019t Any Senate Democrats Calling On Schumer to Step Down?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Why<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is seen after a news conference in the US Capitol on the government shutdown on November 5, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite outcry from progressives, no Democrats in the Senate have yet expressed support for replacing Schumer as leader.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov 11, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With many Democratic base voters up in arms<\/a> over Senate Democrats caving on the federal government shutdown fight, there have been calls<\/a> for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> to step down<\/a> from his leadership role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of those calls, however, have come from senators currently serving in the Democratic Caucus, including progressive stalwarts such as Sens. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren<\/a> (D-Mass.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Senate<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Next Step Is Primaries\u2019: Calls for Schumer Ouster After Leading Shutdown Surrender<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Maine<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018They Have to Go,\u2019 Graham Platner Says of Democratic Leaders After Shutdown Cave<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As reported<\/a> by The American Prospect<\/em> on Tuesday, no Democrats in the Senate have yet expressed support for replacing Schumer (D-NY) as leader, despite the fact that \u201cevery single one of them has the power to force a vote on Schumer\u2019s continued control of the caucus\u201d if they chose to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Prospect<\/em>, any senator in the Democratic Caucus \u201ccould bring forward a motion to amend the Democratic Caucus Rules to say that he should lose his leadership position if a set number of members disapprove of him.\u201d What\u2019s more, the Prospect <\/em>explained, \u201cthe motion would be \u2018self-executing,\u2019 resulting in Schumer\u2019s removal at the same time that it\u2019s approved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted in a Politico<\/em> report<\/a>, Senate Democrats who were opposed to the shutdown cave did not directly criticize Schumer for his handling of the issue, and some, like Warren, tried to direct voters\u2019 anger toward Republicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want Republicans to actually grow a backbone and say, regardless of what [President] Donald Trump<\/a> says, we\u2019re actually going to restore these cuts on healthcare<\/a>,\u201d she said on Sunday. \u201cBut it looks like I\u2019ve lost that fight, so I don\u2019t want to post more pain on people who are hungry and on people who haven\u2019t been paid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Chris Murphy<\/a> (D-Conn.) was more directly critical of the deal that Democrats cut on reopening the government, but he nonetheless stopped short of calling for Schumer\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis bill doesn\u2019t do anything to arrest the healthcare catastrophe, nor does it constrain in any meaningful way President Trump\u2019s illegality,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the voters were pretty clear on Tuesday night what they wanted Congress<\/a> to do, and more specifically, what they wanted Democrats to do, and I am really saddened that we didn\u2019t listen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appetite for ditching Schumer appears much stronger among Democrats serving in the US House<\/a> of Representatives, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Axios<\/em> on Monday reported<\/a> that House Democrats<\/a>\u2019 anger at their Senate counterparts erupted during a private phone call among members, as Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) told her colleagues that \u201cpeople are fucking pissed\u201d at seeing Democrats once again cave in a fight with Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One anonymous Democrat also told Axios<\/em> that almost \u201ceveryone [was] strongly against\u201d the deal Senate Democrats cut to reopen the government without an agreement to extend enhanced tax credits for Americans who buy their health insurance through Affordable Care Act<\/a> (ACA) exchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who is running a primary challenge against Sen. Ed Markey<\/a> (D-Mass.), called on Schumer to step down as minority leader, and challenged his opponent to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Chuck Schumer were an effective leader, he would have united his caucus to vote \u2018No\u2019 tonight and hold the line on healthcare,\u201d Moulton wrote<\/a> in a social media<\/a> post earlier this week. \u201cMaybe now Ed Markey<\/a> will finally join me in pledging not to vote for Schumer?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progressive advocacy organization Indivisible on Monday started ramping up pressure on Democrats to push for Schumer to step down as minority leader, and the group explicitly\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that it would \u201cnot back any Senate primary candidate unless they call for Schumer to step down as Minority Leader.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is seen after a news conference in the US Capitol on the government shutdown on November 5, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) Despite outcry from progressives, no Democrats in the Senate have yet expressed support for replacing Schumer as leader…. Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45128,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45127\/revisions\/45128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}