Minnesota Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan said Wednesday it is time for new Democratic leadership in the Senate, while Chuck Schumer said he expects to keep the top job.
Flanagan’s call for change
In her first news conference as senator-elect, Flanagan told reporters she is “tremendously grateful” for Sen. Chuck Schumer’s years leading Senate Democrats, according to KARE 11. She still wants a different majority leader. A majority leader is the senator who sets the party’s agenda and floor schedule in that chamber.
“I think it is time for new leadership,” Flanagan said on the Wednesday call, per KARE 11 and Roll Call. She said Tuesday’s results show “we are in a point of a new movement in this country.”
Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, defeated Republican Michele Tafoya and will be the first Native American woman in the U.S. Senate. She argued many new Democrats won without corporate PAC money and are “ready to fight for bold change.”
Schumer says he will stay
Schumer, speaking Wednesday outside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, projected confidence. “I’ll be reelected as majority leader,” he told reporters, according to Roll Call and Fox News.
“The issue is not me,” Schumer said. “The issue is focusing on the American people and what they want.”
He has led Senate Democrats since 2017. Democrats flipped the chamber in Tuesday’s midterms. Leadership elections for the new Congress are expected in early December. Senators-elect can vote in a secret ballot. The winner needs a simple majority of the Democratic caucus — the party’s senators acting as a group.
Other new senators weigh in
Fox News reported that five newly elected Democrats have said they will not back Schumer for leader:
- Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota
- Adam Hamilton of Kansas
- Juliana Stratton of Illinois
- Troy Jackson of Maine
- Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan
No sitting Democratic senator has publicly opposed him, and no clear rival has launched a bid.
What each side wants next
Flanagan listed priorities that include rolling back cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, Medicare for All, universal child care, a higher minimum wage, ending the war with Iran, and more accountability for federal immigration enforcement, KARE 11 reported.
Schumer said voters want lower living costs and action on corruption. He also named ending the Iran war and said the Senate would investigate when Trump “defies the will of the American people or the law,” according to Fox News.
Neither side declared a winner in the leadership fight. The closed-door vote still lies ahead.
Sources: KARE 11 · Roll Call · Fox News · CBS Minnesota
