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Michigan senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed has declined to endorse Chuck Schumer to lead Senate Democrats, holding to a position he took throughout his campaign even after Schumer rallied behind him following his primary victory.
El-Sayed, 42, defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race on November 3, becoming the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate. With Democrats retaking the Senate, the party's leadership election will decide the next majority leader, chosen by the caucus in a secret ballot.
El-Sayed's preferred choice is Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. He told the New York Post in August that Schumer had given Democrats "ample reason to question whether or not he would be our best bet heading into a cycle where we might have the majority," adding: "Chris Van Hollen would be perfect." In a May interview with Current Affairs, he called Van Hollen his "number one pick for majority leader," and he told CNN in April: "You know who I'd really like to see as Democratic leader? Chris Van Hollen."
The history matters here: Schumer initially backed Representative Haley Stevens in Michigan's Democratic primary, which El-Sayed won narrowly in August. After that win, Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Kirsten Gillibrand issued a joint statement saying they looked forward to working with El-Sayed to win the seat in November, and the DSCC congratulated him as senator-elect after his general-election victory.
The leadership question has stayed live since the election. El-Sayed addressed whether Schumer should continue as leader in a post-election TODAY interview about his historic win. Reporting on November 4 noted that newly elected Democratic senators in Michigan, Kansas, Illinois and Maine had said they would not back Schumer as majority leader, and the progressive group Indivisible called on Senate Democrats to choose new leadership. Schumer has said he expects to be reelected as majority leader, telling reporters the issue "is not me."
Van Hollen, who endorsed El-Sayed in the primary in a break from Schumer, has himself declined to commit to backing Schumer, calling instead for an open discussion about the party's next leader. No challenger to Schumer has formally declared, and the caucus vote will settle the question in the coming weeks.