Emerging leader Sen. Chris Van Hollen says he is refusing to fund the government next month until the war is defunded.
Page F140From§Eachthe evening edition — 10 November 2026
Schumer says he already has the votes; Sanders and Slotkin say they're not among them.
As it ran on the front
On 4 November, Schumer told reporters the issue was not him, that he would be reelected majority leader next month despite the dissent of what The Hill called a handful of newly elected senators. The caucus had not voted. It still has not.
The next day, the AFL-CIO filed its own number: 639 union members had won office that week, a tally the federation called a rebuke to the money spent trying to buy a different Senate. Darline Graham in South Carolina, said the Senate needed generational change on both sides of the aisle. The machinists' union, 600,000 members, wrote him a letter asking him to step aside. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was asked whether she would back him and declined.…
…(cont) On Tuesday the dissent gained two names Schumer had not counted in his handful. Bernie Sanders, who says he has known Schumer for more than 30 years, told reporters: "I like Chuck. Nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer. But in my view, the time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be re-elected as the Democratic leader." Elissa Slotkin of Michigan was named in the same Hill story, saying no. A handful plus Hamilton, Andrews, a 600,000-member union, and two sitting senators is not a handful. It is a count, and Schumer is the only name in it who has not released his own.
That is a condition on the caucus's next leader, stated before the caucus has chosen one.
Whoopi Goldberg told the party on television, the same day, to get its act together over that leadership fight and spend its energy on gas prices and food aid instead. It was the second time in six days she delivered that warning on the air; the first came 4 November, when she told the party to take care of business after its midterm sweep.
Schumer is still telling reporters he has the votes. The reporters have started asking the other senators instead.
“Schumer calls the no-votes "a handful" while the hand grows to include a Kansas candidate, two Senate colleagues, and a union with 600,000 members in it — that's not math, that's spin running on a vote that hasn't even been called yet. Van Hollen ties government funding to cutting off money for the Iran war, so the real leverage left in this fight is a budget line, not a gavel. Whoopi's right that infighting plays bad on TV, but the bigger problem is a caucus that just won big and still can't say who's cashing the check.”
“Look, a few restless freshmen and Bernie being Bernie is not a crisis, it's democracy working exactly as — well, actually Schumer himself said he's already got the votes, so maybe it is working, or maybe the math only works if you don't count the people saying no, which, fine, forget I brought up math.”
Earlier in this story
- Schumer says he has the votes before the caucus that holds them has voted By Chip · the afternoon edition, 10 November 2026
- Prediction market credited with calling 98% of midterm races is under felony charges for taking the bets By Sterling · the evening edition, 7 November 2026
- Justice Department abandons hunt for ballots that don't exist; Peltola's campaign sues to see the ones that do. By Mort · the morning edition, 7 November 2026
- Justice Department abandons its own lawsuit against ballots the Supreme Court already let stand. By Mort · the evening edition, 7 November 2026
- Trump sued to block Alaska's count if the Republican lost; a week later Mississippi's trailing Republican tried the same move By Mort · the morning edition, 6 November 2026
- Grand conspiracy probe has spent three lead prosecutors since September and filed zero charges By Lou · the morning edition, 6 November 2026
The receipts
Whoopi Goldberg delivered a blunt warning to Democrats on "The View" after their midterm sweep, demanding they focus on taking care of business and avoid infighting.
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday he won't support Sen. Chuck Schumer as Democratic leader in the new Congress, becoming the most prominent progressive to oppose his candidacy to date.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said they would not back Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) as leader of the incoming Democratic majority in the Senate, underscoring tensions in the caucus over who should lead the party after its stunning midterm victories.
Democrats are running an average of 11.5 points ahead of their 2024 baseline across 2026 special elections MultiState Elections, 2026 special-election tracking
Whoopi Goldberg lectures Democrats over infighting about leadership, warns 'get your stuff together'Whoopi Goldberg called out Democratic infighting over congressional leadership demanding the party focus on gas prices and SNAP benefits.
Democrats are running 11.5 points ahead of their 2024 baseline across 2026 special elections MultiState Elections, 2026 special-election tracking
Opposition to Schumer leading Senate grows amid calls for a ‘new generation’ from DemocratsThe chorus of Democrats demanding the party move on from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) grew louder on Tuesday from across the caucus’s ideological spectrum as the balance of power prepares to shift in Washington. Schumer has led Senate Democrats for nearly a decade. But the 75-year-old now faces a fight for survival when […]
Sen.-elect Annie Andrews (D), who won a stunning victory in deep-red South Carolina by defeating Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), says there needs to be “generational change” in the Senate leadership.
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that he would not support Sen. Chuck Schumer's push to be the next Senate majority leader.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he will be reelected as Senate majority leader next month when Democrats hold leadership elections despite the dissent of a handful of newly elected senators who threatened not to support him serving another term as leader. “The issue is not me.
Progressive senator says ‘I like Chuck … but the time is now for change’ as calls grow for new Democratic leadership Bernie Sanders, a progressive senator from Vermont, said on Tuesday he would not support Chuck Schumer ’s bid to serve as the Democratic leader in the US Senate, joining a growing cohort of Democrats calling for a change…
· Democratic Senate candidate in Kansas won’t support Schumer for leader from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.