DENVER – Hours after announcing his bid for Senate majority leader, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he would no longer pursue a presidential bid in 2028.
The Maryland Democrat has previously said he’d been “kicking the tires” on a run for president. The massive Democratic victories in last week’s midterm elections, which will give Democrats full control of Congress next year, have apparently changed his mind.
“I’m no longer pursuing that,” Van Hollen told reporters at the “What’s Next” conference, speaking of a presidential run. “I believe that the size and scale of these majorities provides an opportunity for the United States Senate to answer the call of the American people. I think this is a really important moment for our country, and that we can’t go back to business as usual.”
Asked by HuffPost if he would run for president even if he lost his majority leader bid, Van Hollen said he wouldn’t.
Van Hollen announced Thursday evening that he would challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the Senate Majority Leader position after progressive groups like Indivisible and Our Revolution clamored for a more progressive candidate to enter the race. Some have speculated Van Hollen could boost his presidential prospects by running for leader even if it doesn’t work out.
Senate Democrats will choose their leader in a secret-ballot election in early December, and the winner needs support from only a simple majority of his colleagues. Already, 13 Senate Democrats have said they back Schumer, who has said repeatedly he’s certain he’ll be reelected as Senate Democrats’ leader.
Still, even Democrats who like Schumer have said they welcome a debate about the direction of the party.
“We’re going to have a long conversation about what the caucus should look like and what other things would serve to be our agenda,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a Schumer supporter at the conference, a gathering of Democrats gaming out the party’s next moves.
Van Hollen has support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.), one of four incoming Democrats who’ve said they don’t want Schumer as their leader. Van Hollen said Friday he would put new members’ ideas front and center in the Senate.
“Their ideas are very popular. If you look at what they ran on, things like having a minimum wage that’s a livable wage, making sure that we hold AI accountable, making sure that none of us pay one dime to help build data centers, making sure that we end this war and end this war now,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen has highlighted a more aggressive effort to end the Iran war through a congressional funding showdown next month as a major strategic difference between himself and Schumer.