Maryland's Van Hollen challenges Schumer for Senate Democratic leadership
The Maryland Democrat says voters 'called for change', opening a contest for his party's leadership post in the chamber.
Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator from Maryland, a state beside Washington, DC, will challenge Chuck Schumer for leadership of the party in the US Senate, according to the Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News. The Associated Press reported the announcement on 13 November.
Van Hollen said voters "called for change", the Associated Press reported. "To deliver, we need new leadership," he said, according to Anadolu Agency.
Schumer, of New York, is the Democrats' leader in the Senate. A party leadership post is settled by the party's own senators in a closed vote, not by the full chamber, so Van Hollen's challenge is aimed at his colleagues rather than at the electorate.
The reports described the job differently. Reuters and Anadolu Agency said Van Hollen had announced a bid for Senate majority leader. The Associated Press and CBC News called the contest one for Senate Democratic leader. The titles are separate jobs: the majority leader manages the chamber's floor for the party holding a majority, while the Democratic leader heads the Democratic caucus and speaks for it.
Van Hollen put his case in terms of the last election, saying the result showed voters wanted a change at the top of the party's Senate operation.
None of the reports said when a leadership vote would be held, whether Schumer would contest the challenge, or how many senators had declared support for either man. Neither senator's office was quoted in the accounts, and no public tally of commitments from colleagues was published.
How the reports differ
The Associated Press reported the move first with the post described as Senate Democratic leader, and a follow-up carried Van Hollen's line that voters "called for change"; CBC News also framed it as a Senate leadership post and identified Van Hollen by his state. Reuters and Anadolu Agency instead called the job Senate majority leader. Anadolu led on Van Hollen's quote that "to deliver, we need new leadership" rather than on the challenge to Schumer itself. No outlet in the material carried a response from Schumer or his office.
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