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\n

Democrats could pick up a once-unthinkable nine Senate seats by the time votes are fully counted from Tuesday\u2019s midterms. Chuck Schumer says he\u2019s just getting started.<\/p>\n

The triumphant Senate Democratic leader sat in his Capitol office Thursday and described a \u201clong-term effort\u201d to build on his party\u2019s gains and create a \u201cdurable\u201d majority \u2014 largely by proving to voters \u201cthat we really can get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to keep building. We’re going to build over the next two years first by passing things, or at least fighting hard for things that people want, and we know they want,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cIf we do that, we can expand the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pledge that gained immense new credibility Tuesday when Democrats defied warnings about the unfavorable 2026 Senate map and picked up seats in several states President Donald Trump won two years earlier. Democratic candidates are also ahead in the two uncalled races, in Alaska and Mississippi.<\/p>\n

Now Schumer is on track to keep his leadership post and plot his party\u2019s effort to exploit an even more advantageous lineup of races in 2028.<\/p>\n

Democrats will need to hold on to their newly-won seat in Ohio, and they also have to defend seats in traditional swing states like Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Nevada. But Republicans have several vulnerabilities of their own \u2014 including seats in Wisconsin, which just elected an all-Democratic state government; North Carolina, which just saw its GOP-majority congressional delegation decimated; and in other states Democrats just won including Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina.<\/p>\n

But to make good on his dreams of expansion, Schumer must unite and effectively manage the various factions within his caucus over the next two years. Complicating that job will be the looming free-for-all presidential primary that could involve several of his members \u2014 not to mention Schumer\u2019s own 2028 reelection decision.<\/p>\n

Had Democrats had a bad night Tuesday, Schumer could have faced an early test<\/u><\/a> in securing another term as leader \u2014 with some progressives groups eager to force a conversation about new blood in the top ranks.<\/p>\n

Some incoming Democratic freshmen have vowed not to back Schumer as leader, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who is eyeing a 2028 White House bid, wants to have conversations about the majority\u2019s legislative agenda before Democrats hold a leadership election, which is expected in early December.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democratic caucus needs to have a discussion about what we should do with this new responsibility that has been entrusted with us, and we should have a full and honest discussion in our caucus about what the plan is, what direction we want to go in,\u201d Van Hollen said in an interview.<\/p>\n

But the electoral romp has extinguished any serious discussion of making a change at the top, with many Democrats saying Schumer richly earned another two years in charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me, had the results turned out differently, we would be saying it was a result of disastrous leadership,\u201d Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) said in an interview. \u201cSo if it works to our favor, then I think we have a right to say that it was a result of some things that went well.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Schumer has moved to downplay any suggestion of tension within his suddenly much more ideologically and geographically diverse caucus. In the interview, he noted his friendly relations with both hard-left firebrand Abdul El-Sayed \u2014 one of the freshmen who say they want a new leader \u2014 and moderate Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton in Kansas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media wants to make it, \u2018This is going to be a fight,\u2019\u201d Schumer said. \u201cIt’s not. I speak to all these candidates. I speak to Abdul all the time. I speak to Hamilton all the time. We’re on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

While red-state Democrats had become all but extinct in the Senate over the past decade, Schumer is not a stranger to managing ideological tensions in his ranks. During his first stint as majority leader under then-President Joe Biden, he presided over a threadbare 50-seat majority where maverick Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona frequently frustrated the remainder of the caucus.<\/p>\n

Schumer said he views his incoming red-state Democrats differently than those predecessors, saying they ran on the same platform as his members in deep-blue coastal states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they ran, they each ran individually, on their own,\u201d he said, referring to the likes of Manchin and Sinema. \u201cWe have from one end of the country to the other the message of cost, chaos, and corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schumer pointed to the host of policy proposals that Democrats have rolled out over the past two years as a roadmap for the Senate\u2019s upcoming legislative agenda, broadly addressing topics including housing, health care and energy. Still \u2014 even if Democrats run the table in the remaining races \u2014 they will be short of the 60-vote filibuster threshold necessary for advancing most bills.<\/p>\n

While he said Democrats are \u201cgoing to do everything we can to pass legislation,\u201d Schumer would not directly address how to get bills to Trump\u2019s desk. He batted down questions over whether Democrats should pursue the party-line reconciliation process or carve up the chamber\u2019s legislative filibuster even if the bills they pass have no chance of getting signed into law.<\/p>\n

He did issue a warning to Republicans about any potential obstruction \u2014 and took a shot at Trump, whom he has yet to speak to following the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not going to wait for Trump,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cWho knows what the hell he’ll do? But we’re going to put solutions on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if Republican senators \u201cstand in the way,\u201d he added, \u201cI think the election of 2028 will make 2026 look tame because they’re so out of touch with the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ultimate goal, he said, is to take action on critical matters and show voters what a red-state Democrat might look like versus what “they’re told about what Democrats are [on] Fox News.\u201d<\/p>\n

After successfully wooing candidates like former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown into winning 2026 races, Schumer said he hasn\u2019t started recruiting for 2028, but that he believes Democrats now have footholds that will make winning in red states easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve spent decades working to change the Senate map,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a real, unique opportunity, planned out, and now we\u2019ve got to make sure it lasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calen Razor and Lauren Fedor contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats could pick up a once-unthinkable nine Senate seats by the time votes are fully counted from Tuesday\u2019s midterms. Chuck Schumer says he\u2019s just getting started. The triumphant Senate Democratic leader sat in his Capitol office Thursday and described a \u201clong-term effort\u201d to build on his party\u2019s gains and create a \u201cdurable\u201d majority \u2014 largely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}