Senior House Democrat Says Chuck Schumer’s Popularity ‘Is Hovering Somewhere Between Elon Musk and the Ebola Virus’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., listens at left. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week isn’t over yet.
Schumer has been pilloried by many in his party for voting for a Republican-backed continuing resolution to fund the government last week. And according to Axios, the frustration with him behind the scenes is palpable.
From Axios’s Andrew Solender:
Some House members are urging Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) behind closed doors to mount a primary bid against the New York senator in 2028.
“From the threads I am on, [people are] pissed off … and not just the typical lefties,” one House Democrat told Axios on the condition of anonymity to share details of members’ private communications.
A senior House Democrat said of their colleagues’ mood toward Schumer: “His popularity is hovering somewhere between Elon Musk and the Ebola virus.”
Solender also reported that “Schumer is under siege from Democrats’ liberal grassroots, postponing stops on his book tour that groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee had planned to protest.”
After Schumer announced his intention to vote for the continuing resolution last week, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) issued a statement calling on Schumer’s colleagues in the Senate not to follow his example.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered the Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America,” argued Pelosi. “But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable. I salute Leader Hakeem Jeffries for his courageous rejection of this false choice, and I am proud of my colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus for their overwhelming vote against this bill.”
“Democrats must not buy into this false choice. We must fight back,” she added.
On Tuesday, Pelosi rubbed salt in Schumer’s wounds, musing that “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing. I think that’s what happened the other day.”
