Chuck Schumer

Chuck Schumer is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1998, representing New York. He has held that seat since then, rising to serve as the Senate’s minority leader (2017–21 and 2025– ) and majority leader (2021–25). With Democrats winning back control of the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, Schumer is poised to again become majority leader. However, he has faced criticism from some of the more progressive members of the Democratic Party, and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced that he would challenge Schumer for the leadership role.

Schumer grew up in Brooklyn. Valedictorian of his high-school class, he earned a then-perfect 1,600 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. He attended Harvard University, where he studied political science (B.A., 1971) and law (J.D., 1974). Although Schumer passed the New York State bar exam in 1975, he did not pursue a legal career.

In 1974 Schumer was elected to the New York State Assembly. When he took office the following year, the 24-year-old became the assembly’s youngest member since Theodore Roosevelt. In 1980 Schumer married Iris Weinshall, and the couple later had two children. That year he also successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1981 to 1999.

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During his years in the House, he became known both as a leader of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and as a highly effective advocate of legislation combating violent crime. Schumer introduced the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993) and was a leading supporter of the Violence Against Women Act (1994), the former of which imposed mandatory background checks on the sales of handguns. He also cowrote a law that banned the private ownership of assault weapons.

In 1998 Schumer was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Alfonse D’Amato with nearly 55 percent of the vote. After taking office in 1999, he continued to advance liberal causes. He took a strong interest in trade and consumer-protection matters and was a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage and abortion rights. Also active in health care issues, he was a key supporter of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA; 2010), helping steer it through committee and to passage.

In 2016 Schumer was elected to succeed Harry Reid as minority leader of the Senate; he assumed the post when the new Congress convened in January 2017. A vocal opponent of Pres. Donald Trump and many of his policies, Schumer notably helped defeat the Republican effort to repeal PPACA later that year. In December 2019 the House of Representatives impeached Trump over allegations that he had withheld aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country into opening a corruption investigation into Joe Biden, a political rival (he became the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020). The proceedings then shifted to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Schumer sought to negotiate the terms of the trial, seeking additional witnesses and documents. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, was able to block his requests, and in February 2020 Trump was acquitted in what was nearly a party-line vote. Shortly thereafter Schumer criticized the president for his alleged lack of leadership as coronavirus cases spread. The following month, deaths began to mount, businesses and schools started to close, and the economy entered an economic downturn that soon rivaled the Great Depression. Schumer was involved in negotiations that led to the passage, in late March, of a $2 trillion relief package, the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history.

The 2020 election was held amid this health crisis, and in November, Biden defeated Trump; the fate of the Senate remained uncertain as both of Georgia’s senatorial races moved to runoffs. Trump challenged the presidential election results, alleging voter fraud. Although there was no evidence to support his claims, a number of Republicans began to call for the election to be overturned. On January 5, 2021, both Democratic candidates won in Georgia, creating a 50–50 tie in the Senate; however, with an incoming Democratic vice president (Kamala Harris) as the tiebreaker, Democrats gained control of the body. The following day Schumer and the other members of Congress convened to certify Biden’s win, but the proceedings were halted after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. It took several hours to secure the building, and Congress ultimately certified Biden’s win. Schumer and many others accused Trump of encouraging the attack, and on January 13 the House voted to impeach the president, charging him with “incitement of insurrection.” As discussions were underway for the Senate trial, Schumer officially became majority leader on January 20. The Senate did not convict Trump.

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During the 2020s, Schumer’s leadership of Senate Democrats was marked by a narrow majority, a return to the minority, and a growing debate over the leadership and direction of the party. While operating with slim majorities, Schumer helped gain passage of key Biden administration initiatives, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (2021) and the Inflation Reduction Act (2022). He also worked with Republicans to get bipartisan legislation enacted, including the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and the Respect for Marriage Act.

After Republicans recaptured the Senate in the 2024 elections, Schumer returned to the position of minority leader. While in this role during the second Trump administration, he drew sharp criticism from progressives as well as House Democrats for supporting a March 2025 continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown. Although Democrats regained the Senate majority in the 2026 midterm elections, calls for generational and ideological change within the caucus prompted Maryland’s Van Hollen to challenge Schumer for the leadership role.