Van Hollen says ending corruption requires organizing Senate differently

Van Hollen’s pitch echoes this cycle’s anti-establishment Senate campaigns

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland made his case for the Senate Democrats’ top job at the Democratic conference in Colorado, arguing that what voters asked for in the midterms cannot be delivered without changing how the Senate is run.

“This is about answering the call of the American people because what I’m very afraid of is that their calls to end political corruption, their calls to end a rigged economic system, will require that we organize the Senate in a different way,” Van Hollen said, according to NPR.

Van Hollen argued the midterms showed how much voters want Democrats to reject the status quo, and he cast himself as the best person to usher in that change. He announced this week that he is running against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the Senate’s top Democratic job next year, opening a leadership contest as Democrats prepare to retake the majority in both the House and the Senate. Democrats say the midterm elections handed them a mandate to deliver change, but the party remains divided over how far that change should go and who should lead it — a debate now playing out in the Senate, NPR reported.

NPR political reporter Elena Moore reported that Van Hollen’s talking points may sound familiar because they echo the campaign trail. Van Hollen is embracing much of the same messaging used by successful Democratic Senate candidates this cycle, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, who made his campaign about rejecting the establishment — an institution Schumer has long embodied, Moore reported.

The change message comes from a figure with deep Washington roots. Van Hollen has represented Maryland in the Senate since 2017 and served more than a decade in the House before that, where he held leadership roles. He is seen as more progressive than Schumer and has tried in recent years to position himself as someone who pushes back hard against the Trump administration. Last year, he lobbied for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador, and traveled to El Salvador to meet with him. NPR host Sacha Pfeiffer asked what makes Van Hollen think he is an embodiment of change right now, noting that in many ways he kind of embodies older-school politics. Van Hollen is also only eight years younger than Schumer — a detail Moore said is worth mentioning.

On the issues, Van Hollen and Schumer are largely aligned on the party’s big-picture priorities. Both have emphasized the need to lower costs, end the war and reverse some of the Trump administration’s funding cuts.

The bigger difference lies in how each senator talks about reforming the Democratic Party. Van Hollen has said the Senate has been taken over by special interest groups, touching on a rift within the caucus over campaign donations from super PACs and pro-Israel lobbying groups such as AIPAC, which has supported Schumer in the past.

Van Hollen has said he hopes to rally support from the party’s left flank. But the opposition to Schumer is not confined to progressives. Schumer is by no means universally liked inside the party: toward the start of Trump’s second term, he was criticized both within the halls of Congress and by voters who argued he was not doing enough to fight back against Trump, NPR reported.

Some of that frustration comes from progressives such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Earlier this week, Sanders held a press conference alongside Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, whom NPR described as more of a moderate, and the two announced they would not back Schumer for the job.

Still, dissatisfaction with Schumer may not translate into a victory for Van Hollen, who NPR reported knows he is the underdog. Schumer says he is confident he has the support needed. With time for both senators to make gains, the contest will come down to a secret ballot vote in early December.