Leftists have been trying to agitate against having Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as the new Senate Majority Leader. 

Several of the incoming freshmen senators-elect have indicated that they were either not supportive of Schumer or they spoke of the need for "new leadership." The Michigan Senate winner, Abdul El-Sayed, has said that he would vote for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) if Van Hollen ran. 

Schumer still likely has the votes, but his prospects just took a couple more big hits. 

It sounds like Schumer may have just lost Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who is about as much of an establishment creature as you can get — Blumenthal just declined to endorse Schumer. 

"We need a conversation about leadership going forward because we need new energy and ideas," he said. He did say he expected Schumer to win because he hadn't heard of anyone else being willing to take the job. 

Recommended
Adam Hamilton Just Threw a Big Wrench Into Democrat Revenge Plans - and He Won't Be the Only One Sister Toldjah Gen Zers Are Heading to Red States, but There's a Political Catch Becky Noble

But hold your horses: then came another big hit to Schumer. There's now a report from Punchbowl claiming that Van Hollen is open to running against Schumer. 

Van Hollen has "received an outpouring of calls and is now in active listening mode," according to a person familiar w/ his thinking around leadership 

"The door is not shut," the person added 

Van Hollen is a leading progressive & has said he needs commitments from Schumer before agreeing to support him for another term as leader. The Maryland Democrat has also been eyeing a presidential run

So that could mean Van Hollen really is interested in running, or he wants to be able to put Schumer over the grill for concessions that the leftists want in exchange for him backing off the position, probably depending on how the numbers ultimately break down. 

The Left is putting on a charge on X to have people agitate for Van Hollen.

It's not clear that Van Hollen would have the votes. Van Hollen, of course, is the guy who went down to El Salvador to performatively virtue signal over illegal alien "Maryland Man" Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He certainly would have a better chance at Democrat leader than he would at the presidency. And if he won, this would be a perfect example for the public of how off the rails Democrats are: that this character is someone they would elevate to leadership. 

Either way, all of this is not going to make Schumer happy.