AOC Needs To Primary Schumer In 2028

-by Patrick Toomey

Chuck Schumer, once again, folded on the shutdown vote. As Josh Marshall notes, the Dem “leader” consciously gave up his 1 point of potential leverage:

“He pledged to keep fighting President Trump and Elon Musk, a fairly empty promise as Republicans won’t need Democratic help to fund the government for at a year, and can pass their reconciliation bills alone.”

Schumer did so at a time when there appeared to be momentum within the Dem caucus to stand firm.”

“Earlier in the day, a growing number of moderate and swing-state Democrats vowed to oppose the legislation. That included Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), who called the bill “dangerous”; Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)., who said it’d ‘give unchecked power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk; Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who blasted it as ‘a grab bag of extreme policies’; Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who called it ‘a terrible deal’ that’d hurt Virginia.”

“One thing is certain: If we pass this continuing resolution for the next half year, we will own what the president does,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. “I am not willing to take ownership of that.”

Chuck’s sidekick was totally on board with this charade: “From outside the Democratic lunch meeting, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) could be heard yelling about devastating impacts of a government shutdown, particularly at this juncture.”

Left unsaid by New York’s cowardly cohort was how holding the line could be worse that the utterly appalling status quo where a Ketamine addict is proudly taking a chainsaw to the Constitution and to the (non-military) federal government. Plus, there’s this little factoid:

The senators have faced heavy pressure from House Democratic colleagues and outside liberal advocates outside of the Capitol to hold the line against the six-month bill, which was crafted by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and the White House.

Earlier this week, just one House Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted for the bill, which party leaders in the chamber railed against.

Sadly, given Schumer’s track record, this latest cave-in was largely predictable. The comments on Lawyers Guns & Money were instructive:

“All the spine of a jellyfish and none of the sting.”

AND:

“We need a charismatic leader to take his place. If only there were somebody… I don't know, maybe a highly charismatic telegenic young woman of color, who knew how to exploit social media to rally a wide swath of the party behind a progressive but pragmatically inclusive banner. Imagine if someone like that was ACTUALLY FROM NEW YORK! She could run for his seat.”

Schumer is up for re-election in 2028. He will turn 78 a few weeks after election day. We desperately need new blood, new energy, and new ideas from New York.

Just as Joe Crowley did in 2018, Schumer has spent years earning this challenge. AOC rose to that challenge in 2018, and she will need to rise to it again in 2028.