Chuck Schumer’s Victory Trap

Detailed summary

Democrats' sweeping midterm victory has handed Chuck Schumer a Senate majority—and a new argument for replacing him.

Chris Van Hollen's challenge to Chuck Schumer's leadership in the Senate exposed an extraordinary paradox. The Democrat who helped deliver one of his party's greatest Senate victories in decades is now being challenged because of it.

Schumer's Democrats have secured at least 55 Senate seats, with another potentially coming in Alaska (watch this space). It was a blue tsunami of historic proportions that laid to ruins a GOP trifecta and, among other things, flipped Texas.

Ordinarily, a result like that would make the party leader atop this triumph virtually untouchable. But Van Hollen, assessing the same aftermath, sees things differently.

"In this election, the American people called for change," the Maryland senator declared, arguing that voters wanted something more profound than simply to express their rejection of President Donald Trump.

They wanted a break with a political status quo that was failing working Americans. And according to Van Hollen, that means new Democratic leadership, and preferably under him.

Herein lies Schumer's victory trap. A political win that should strengthen his position has generated expectations—and a broadening party coalition—that undermine it.

Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, offered a memorable sporting analogy in defense of Schumer: "Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?"

It's a powerful argument. Schumer recruited candidates, raised money and helped engineer victories in states that appeared inhospitable to Democrats.

His allies argue that retaining the architect of that success offers continuity and experienced management of an ideologically diverse majority.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Newsweek. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.