Schumer Says He Will Be Reelected Majority Leader as New Senators Call for Fresh Blood. Skip the Victory Lap.

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York says he will be reelected majority leader when Democrats take the chamber in January, even as several newly elected senators have said they want new leadership.

These accounts come from reports read early Thursday morning, Nov. 5, Central time. The caucus vote has not been held.

Schumer has led Senate Democrats since 2017, when Harry Reid retired, and has already served as both majority and minority leader. He faces his own reelection in 2028, Roll Call noted.

Schumer's prediction

Standing outside Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters on Wednesday, Schumer made a prediction: "I'll be reelected as majority leader," Roll Call reported. Asked about working with new senators who have criticized him, he said, "The issue is not me," and added, "The issue is focusing on the American people and what they want."

Roll Call said the leadership election will likely take place in early December and will include senators-elect in a secret ballot. Schumer would lead a caucus expected to hold between 54 and 56 seats once remaining races are settled, the report said.

NPR reported that Democrats now have a 54-seat majority, counting the two independents who caucus with them, with Alaska and Mississippi still uncalled. Schumer called the result a "generational remake of the Senate map," NPR said, and vowed that "relief is on the way." He said Democrats intend to bring down the cost of living, end the Iran war and investigate the White House. "The days of Trump's supplicant Senate are over," he declared, according to NPR. He also said, "We are going to work hard to drive costs down with the president or without him."

Dissent in the new class

Not everyone is ready to lock in. Roll Call reported that Rev. Adam Hamilton, the United Methodist pastor who defeated Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas, told CNN in September, "I'm not supporting Schumer for leader," and said, "I mean no disrespect for Chuck Schumer, but we need new leadership. We need new, younger leadership, young blood." Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan earlier said he would support Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, though on Wednesday he told NBC's Today show he wants "two or more options," Roll Call reported. Minnesota's Peggy Flanagan has also said it is "time for new leadership."

For background on El-Sayed's win, see Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Race, First Muslim Senator.

So far, Roll Call said, no formidable opponent has emerged, and a Democratic staffer familiar with the caucus predicted Schumer will keep the job.

That prediction may hold. A majority of the caucus is all Schumer needs. Still, the public dissent from Hamilton, Flanagan and others is unusual this early, and it will be on the record when the secret ballots are counted in December.

Opinion:

Schumer is confident. Confidence is not the same as a mandate from voters to keep the same leaders forever. Freshmen who promised new blood should say so with their ballots, not only with interviews. Secret ballots make that easier. They should use them honestly.

Republicans should not cheer Democratic infighting for its own sake. A Senate that cannot pass a farm bill, fund the government on time or tell the truth about spending is a Senate that fails the people. Whoever leads the Democrats will face a president with a veto pen. Gridlock is coming. The question is whether anyone will still try to lower costs and end an open-ended war.

Leaders who treat a midterm wave as a personal trophy are walking on thin ice. Scripture warns, Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Deliver results. Spare the victory lap until the work is done.

Ordinary people care less about who keeps the title than about whether gas, groceries and rent come down, and whether Washington stops treating war as a permanent condition. Leaders who forget that will meet the same voters again in two years.