Chris Van Hollen Promises To Use Every Senate Power To End The Iran War

Sen. Chris Van Hollen is challenging Sen. Chuck Schumer to be the next Senate Majority Leader. Schumer believes he has the votes locked down to win the election, and Van Hollen is the underdog at this time, but that doesn’t mean that Van Hollen is a token candidate or that he and his supporters aren’t amassing real power to shape the agenda of the incoming Democratic majority.

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Sen. Schumer has been the Senate Democratic Leader for almost a decade since 2017, and while some are using Schumer’s age against him, the bigger problem, in my view, is that when voters chose to give control of the Senate to Democrats, they were voting for change.

If he becomes Majority Leader again, Schumer will have more than 10 years in leadership.

Van Hollen discussed his campaign for Majority Leader on CNN’s State Of The Union with Dana Bash.

Bash asked Van Hollen about his challenge to Schumer:

Well, first I would say, Dana, this is not about one person or any one individual.

This really is a response to the call of the voters, who clearly rejected Donald Trump and his awful policies, but they haven't fully hired the Democrats. They have given us a chance, and I think we need to earn their trust. And I think that begins by not going back to business as usual, not going back to the status quo.

Now, I have had a record of doing what our candidates on the campaign trail talked about, a populist message of unrigging an economic system stacked in favor of the very wealthy and fueled by political corruption.

A big issue for the Democratic majority will be ending the Iran war. Van Hollen contrasted himself with Leader Schumer on the issue.