Do the Dems need new leadership?
And to do that, I think we need new leadership.” Newly elected Democrats Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI) and Peggy Flanagan (D-MN), each of whom defeated more leadership-aligned Democrats in their Senate primaries, are backing his bid.
Key points
- Searching for “fighters” The Senate is the only chamber currently dealing with an active leadership fight, but it’s not the only one with some leadership angst.
- Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, made it official: He’s challenging current Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for the title of majority leader next year, promising a bolder and more aggressive agenda for the party.
- Instead, he says, it’s about an energized, angry Democratic base looking for fighters to lead the party into what’s almost certain to be a combative final two years of the Trump administration, and a sense that neither Schumer nor Jeffries are ready to meet the moment.
As Eric writes, that will come with some real challenges, not least that Democrats currently appear to be facing an impossible trio of economic promises, one of which they’ll likely need to break.
Additional details
- But the intra-party debate that we’re watching play out right now is effectively a preview of the higher-stakes fight to come in 2028, when Democrats could also have control of the presidency — and their freest legislative hand since the 2008 election.
- It’s not just a problem for this cycle, either: Democrats won so widely last week that they’re very likely to hang onto their majorities at least through the 2028 election, Eric Levitz points out.
- But unlike simple sports bets, Jack Meserve reports for Vox — things like “who will win the game?” — gambling companies have transformed table tennis into something approximating a slot machine.
- There’s nothing to say that Democrats will have the same leaders in two years (particularly Schumer, who’s up for reelection in 2028 but may either retire or face a serious primary challenge).
- John Mandel about her new book, Exit Party, how she uses science to inform her fiction, and why she’s so fascinated with the idea of “counter life,” for people and countries alike.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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