Dems pile on Schumer as bashing goes mainstream

The Senate Democratic leader said it himself on cable news on Tuesday night. By siding with Republicans on the government funding bill, Chuck Schumer knew members of his own party would come out against him.

But what may have not have been expected was how quickly the criticism spread beyond the left flank.

Just this week, Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland told constituents “it may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz aired frustrations, and one of Schumer’s longtime allies, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, dropped the hammer on him.

“I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” Pelosi told reporters Tuesday during a news conference at a children’s hospital in San Francisco, her second time addressing Schumer’s vote. “I think that’s what happened the other day.”

Five days after the vote, Schumer bashing is going mainstream — continuing a drumbeat of criticism that first started when he announced he would join Republicans, eight other Democrats and one independent, to advance the bill to fund the government.

What began with activist groups and progressive members of Congress, has moved toward both the party’s political center and the nation’s heartland – including to possible 2028 contenders. The criticism comes as the party struggles to find ways to push back against a Republican stranglehold on power in Washington.

Illinois’ Pritzker said “I disagree with what he did and vehemently so,” following a talk at the Center for American Progress. Walz, the former vice presidential nominee, said Democrats “gave up their leverage” in an appearance on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s podcast.

And then there was Pelosi.

By piling on Tuesday, Pelosi “gave everybody a permission slip to carry on,” said one Democratic strategist, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation.

And they did.

“I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he had a great, long-standing career,” Ivey (D-Md.) told an audience that included many government workers Tuesday night. “But I’m afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader.”

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Tuesday night, Schumer not only defended his decision as necessary to prevent the hurt a shutdown would bring to American workers, but also touted his own political prowess.

“I’m a smart politician, I can read what people want,” Schumer said, emphasizing that a while Republicans put forward a “terrible, terrible, bill,” a shutdown would have been “so much worse.”

“I couldn’t tolerate it, I couldn’t live with it,” he added.

He isn’t the only Democrat making the calculation — about the bill or his political standing. In Pelosi’s home state, Darry Sragow, a Democratic strategist, insists that these types of disagreements are just business as usual for Democrats.

“That’s just what we do,” he said. “You know, we’re this dysfunctional family that agrees on one thing; and that is that we want to protect the interests of ordinary, working Americans.”

Schumer hit cable again Wednesday morning, working to shift the focus to the party’s messaging against President Donald Trump.

“Now we can really go after him, let the public know who he is,” Schumer said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Once they know who he is, show them what we have done and want to do.”

Schumer’s Senate colleagues, too, are quick to dismiss the idea that he should be removed as leader. But even some of them have expressed concern that members need more guidance.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Schumer “can lead the caucus.”

However, he added, Democrats “need to have a conversation inside the caucus about whether we are willing to stand up to Republicans.”

Danny Nguyen contributed to this report.