Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing calls to retire from far-Left activists after helping pass a six-month spending bill to avoid a federal shutdown — with one George Soros-funded organization leading calls for the New York Democrat’s resignation.
Over the weekend, Schumer finally confronted the retirement rumors, and said he will not give up control of the Democratic Party despite his unpopularity.
Indivisible, an activist hub that has received more than $7.6 million since 2017 from Soros’ Open Society Foundations, is spearheading the anti-Schumer campaign. The group is hosting a virtual event Saturday encouraging activists to write “happy retirement cards” to the 74-year-old Brooklyn lawmaker.
“Senator Schumer should step aside as leader. Every Democrat in the Senate should call for him to do so, and begin making plans for new leadership immediately,” Indivisible co-executive director Ezra Levin declared.
Levin criticized Schumer for surrendering what he called a “rare, precious point of leverage” in the spending fight. The group claims to have 1,600 local chapters nationwide with 10 paid staffers and is organizing at least 17 home-district town halls where Democratic lawmakers will likely face questions about Schumer’s leadership.
Schumer has remained defiant amid the criticism over the weekend.
“I’m not stepping down,” he stated bluntly during an NBC News “Meet the Press” interview on Sunday. He defended his vote as “a vote of principle” and argued that while the GOP-led funding bill was “certainly bad,” a government shutdown would have been “15 or 20 times worse.”
The minority leader’s decision has worsened already deep divisions within the Democratic Party, which has been left on their political back heel by the Trump administration.
Socialist members like Rep. Ilhan Omar have criticized Democratic leadership for giving up “our first point of leverage,” while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for “a Democratic Party that fights harder for us” at a Nevada rally alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Republicans have seized on the internal Democratic discord. “Democrats are eating their own—selling out to the far-left crazies and mega-donors who are funding clown show protests across the country,” said NRCC spokeswoman Emily Tuttle.
Despite these pressures to retire, Schumer grip on power seems secure for now.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., offered only a lukewarm critique at a recent town hall, saying “it’s important for people to know when it’s time to go” without directly calling for Schumer’s resignation.
Schumer himself has remained verbally defiant.
“I am staying put, and I’m fighting the fight every day,” he insisted, describing himself as an “orchestra leader” who highlights “all the talent in the caucus in different ways.”