Senate

Pro-Sanders group: Schumer ‘poor choice’ to lead Senate Dems

by Jordain Carney - 11/15/16 8:31 PM ET

A group that supports Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is making an eleventh-hour plea to Senate Democrats, arguing Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is the wrong choice to lead them in 2017.

“The Democratic Party is at a crossroads, and it could implode,” says Charles Lenchner, co-Founder of the People for Bernie Sanders said in a statement. “Senator Schumer has not demonstrated the proper leadership here. Supporting him as Minority Leader is tone deaf.”

{mosads}Stan Williams, the lead organizer for People For Bernie Sanders and African Americans For Bernie Sanders, added that Schumer would not “be strong against Donald Trump.”

The group launched a petition last week urging supporters to tell Democrats not let Schumer, currently the No. 3 Senate Democrat, replace outgoing Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Their comments on Tuesday come less than a day before Senate Democrat will elect the 2017 leadership team during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday morning.

Schumer is currently on a glide path to the caucus’ top spot, though dozens of protesters launched a sit-in at his office Monday urging that he step aside for Sanders. Neither Williams nor Lechner in their statements nor the group’s petition specifically call for Sanders, an Independent who caucus with Senate Democrats, to replace Schumer.

Sanders told reporters on Tuesday that he was not challenging Schumer or Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat, but declined to shoot down chatter that he wants to join the leadership team.

“I do not have any intention of doing that,” he told reporters, referring to the top two spots when asked broadly if was trying to join leadership.

He declined to answer a question about if was angling for a leadership spot separately early Tuesday evening.

Schumer’s No. 3 spot as Senate Democrat policy committee chairman will be open once he becomes majority leader. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), currently the No. 4 Democrat, hasn’t ruled out challenging Durbin for the Democrat whip position, but she could also move into the policy position.

A spokesman for Sanders didn’t respond to a request for comment last week on if Sanders was thinking about a current leadership position or trying to carve out a new role, similar to what Reid did for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) after the 2014 election.

Warren and Dem Sens. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Mark Warner (Va.) also currently hold leadership positions.