WASHINGTON ― Democrats across the country are furious at their party for agreeing to reopen the federal government without key health care demands, and they’re taking it out largely on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Schumer opposed the deal cut by a group of moderate Senate Democrats, but his progressive critics faulted him anyway for leading the failed strategy and for being unable to hold his caucus together in pushing for an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies next year. The agreement instead gives Democrats a vote next month on extending them, but it’s likely to fail due to widespread GOP opposition on the issue.
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“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a potential 2028 presidential contender, wrote in an online post on Sunday. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, cited Schumer’s refusal to endorse incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as well as his handling of the shutdown fight.
“Don’t endorse or say who you voted for in NYC despite there being a Dem candidate,” Pocan wrote online. “Get Dem Senators to negotiate a terrible ‘deal’ that does nothing real about healthcare. Screw over a national political party.”
“Profile of scourge? Next,” Pocan added.
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The anger at Schumer was particularly acute among Democrats running to join him in the Senate. Zach Wahls, one of the Iowa Democrats in the race to replace Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), wrote that Schumer “failed to lead this party in one of its most critical moments, and Americans will pay the price.”
“I think it’s pretty clear this deal would not have happened without his blessing privately,” Wahls added on a Monday morning press call. “It certainly appears from the outside like it was all orchestrated by Senate leadership.”
Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, a progressive who has been critical of Schumer in the past, wrote, “Chuck Schumer is not built for this moment.”
Asked by HuffPost on Sunday to respond to calls for his ouster, Schumer remained silent. He railed against the deal on the Senate floor because it failed to adequately address health care, warning that Republicans would pay for their refusal to extend health protections in next year’s midterm elections.
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“Democrats have sounded the alarm. We have demanded for months to meet with the Republican leadership. But Republican leaders refused to even discuss the issue, let alone negotiate it,” Schumer said in a speech. “We are going to fight legislatively, fight back home, fight in the courts, and bring this fight in the elections. Health care costs made a major impact on the 2025 election, and they will certainly have an even greater impact on the 2026 election.”
Schumer also faced intense intraparty criticism in March over his handling of government funding. Back then, however, he voted with Republicans not to shut down the government, arguing that it would empower President Donald Trump to lay waste to federal agencies and government programs.
Under Schumer’s leadership, Democrats stood their ground for 40 days ― mounting the longest government shutdown in history. They elevated the issue of health care to the top of voters’ minds, and they highlighted Trump’s refusal to extend the ACA subsidies, which are overwhelmingly popular. They can now keep hammering away against Republicans on the issue into the 2026 midterm elections, something that helped them notch big victories in New Jersey and Virginia last week.
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But the symbolic victories are a poor salve for Democrats who wanted their party to keep fighting Trump, and who worry that caving will only demoralize their base and embolden a president who has shown no regard for the law.
Asked by reporters on Sunday if she believed Schumer did a good job, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) took a lengthy pause and said, “I think the American people want us to stand and fight for health care. Obviously, that’s not happening.”
“What’s clear is that the old way of doing business continues to fail America,” freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said in a statement opposing the deal. “Leadership is about changing and adapting when there is real need, and unless we hear that, we will fail to meet the moment.”
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