Rep. Glenn Ivey says “it may be time” for the Senate minority leader to step down.
SUITLAND, Maryland — Any hope of congressional Democrats unifying around Chuck Schumer broke Tuesday, as Rep. Glenn Ivey became the first House Democrat to openly say it might be time for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to call it quits.
“I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he had a great, long-standing career,” Ivey, who represents a deep-blue Maryland district just outside Washington, told an audience that included many government workers. “But I’m afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader.”
It’s the furthest a current member of Congress openly gone for calling for Schumer to step down. His criticism reflects what appears to be growing division among Democrats over how to resist the sweeping cuts imposed by Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
His fellow Congressional Black Caucus member, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), said last weekend: “Senate Democrats have to sit down and take a look and decide whether Chuck Schumer is the one to lead the moment.”
Democratic elected leaders and members of the public have expressed outrage in recent days over Schumer’s decision to avoid a government shutdown by agreeing to a vote on a Republican plan that would allow Trump to make more cuts.
Ivey, like all but one of the chamber’s Democrats, voted against the spending plan in the House — a show of unity orchestrated by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that did not hold in the Senate.
“I think Hakeem Jeffries will continue to hold the House Democratic Caucus together. He’s done it over and over and over again on these major bills,” Ivey said. “If we can make sure that we get the right leadership in the Senate to get it done this time and hold them together and vote with the House Democrats, we can actually have an impact.”
A lawyer by training and the patriarch of a powerful political family in Prince George’s County, the congressman was repeatedly shouted down by people at the town hall demanding action against Trump and Musk.
“Answer the question!” one person yelled from the balcony of a crowded high school auditorium as he responded to a question about helping fired federal workers get their jobs back.
Several people jeered at Ivey: “What are you doing now!?” as Ivey mentioned court challenges to administration actions and said the best time to fight back would be in the midterm elections of 2026.
His criticism of Schumer comes after a rough few days for the minority leader in which even longtime supporters have taken swipes at him. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Tuesday he had forfeited his leverage by allowing the vote though she still supports him.
A Schumer spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request to comment on Ivey’s remark. But the minority leader, who canceled a tour to promote his book “Antisemitism in America: A Warning” as protests were being organized against him, has shrugged off the criticism.
The minority leader told MSNBC on Tuesday that even though the Republican spending resolution was a “terrible, terrible bill,” he felt that a government shutdown would have been worse.
“I knew when I made this decision I’d get a lot of flack,” Schumer said. “I’m a smart politician, I can read what people want.”
A government shutdown, he said, would have done “such damage” to the country. “I couldn’t tolerate it,” he said. “I couldn’t live with it.”
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