Sen Chris Van Hollen wants to be President

Maryland senator skips Schumer fight and tests 2028 White House waters

Sen. Chris Van Hollen ruled out a challenge to Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader and is instead kicking the tires on a 2028 presidential run, even as incoming Democrats already reject the longtime chief.

Days after Democrats claimed control of the Senate, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen made clear he wants no part of the leadership contest. He told Fox 5 DC he is “not looking to be the next Democratic leader” and is instead “kicking the tires” on a White House bid in 2028.

The decision lands as Senate Democrats prepare a secret-ballot vote for their leader in the coming weeks. Schumer, the 75-year-old New York senator who has run the caucus since 2017, has already said he will seek the post again.

On election night Schumer declared victory in blunt terms. "Against all odds, we Democrats have won the Senate."

Van Hollen said:

"Whoever’s going to be the next majority leader in the United States Senate needs to make clear to the caucus that he or she is going to do everything within our power to end the illegal and senseless war in Iran and do it now."

The Maryland senator has led repeated efforts to force floor votes on war-powers resolutions aimed at ending what he calls Trump’s illegal Iran war. Republicans have blocked those votes. Van Hollen is now trying to add that same priority into the job description of the next Democratic leader.

He remains in his second Senate term. By skipping the Schumer fight and floating a 2028 presidential run, he is signaling that the Senate leadership post is not his ceiling. The same caucus that just won a majority still has to settle who actually runs it. El-Sayed wants Van Hollen.

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This is the very same Senator who traveled to El Salvador in April 2025 to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who had been deported to El Salvador's Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) mega-prison.