Progressive Democrats in the Senate working to oust Chuck Schumer

So apparently there's an insurgency in the Democratic Party, with two northeastern senators as the ringleaders: Chris Murphy of CT and Elizabeth Warren of MA. They are gathering strength and planning to cut Schumer's chosen successor (Brian Schatz of HI) off at the knees. Schumer isn't radical enough for them and they want more AOC's and Mamdanis in office.

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The Wall Street Journal, drawing on more than four dozen interviews with Democratic senators, candidates, current and former congressional aides, activists, and advisers, found widespread unease about the New York senator's grip on the party's direction. The report makes it clear that Schumer’s own colleagues increasingly see him as an anchor, slowing their response to President Trump, steering primaries toward centrists they don't want, and draining the fundraising pipeline that Democrats desperately need heading into the midterm elections.

According to the report, last month, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut met with progressive activists at a French restaurant in Georgetown. The conversation turned to what to do about Schumer. According to people familiar with the dinner, Murphy disclosed that some lawmakers had already been running informal vote counts to see whether enough support existed to remove Schumer from his leadership post. Murphy added that Schumer had enough backing to survive. But the fact that anyone was counting at all said something.

Murphy has since walked it back, carefully. "Could someone infer from that that someone was keeping a count? Maybe, but that's not what I meant," he told reporters. "I meant that he has the support of the caucus."

But Murphy’s backpedaling doesn’t change the reality. Murphy is reportedly part of a group of senators who have been actively canvassing colleagues about their frustrations with Schumer. This group, nicknamed “Fight Club,” (hey...) is a Signal chat group where progressives coordinate strategy around opposing Schumer's preferred candidates in key 2026 races. The Fight Club's grievance, at its core, is that Schumer is tilting the playing field toward centrists while an insurgent energy on the left goes untapped. The group includes Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and it appears that Warren has been initiating those conversations directly. Smith's advisers have gone further, holding discussions with other Senate staff about concrete scenarios to challenge Schumer's leadership.

The concern isn't purely ideological. It's financial, and that's where things get uncomfortable. Schumer's aligned super PAC, Senate Majority PAC, got outpaced by its Republican counterpart last year. Entering 2026, the Democratic super PAC had $36 million in cash on hand and $12.4 million in debt. The GOP's equivalent had $100 million on hand and zero debt.

In the money primary - the one that quietly decides Senate races before a single vote is cast - Schumer's side is getting lapped.

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