Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has postponed his multistate book tour for “Antisemitism in America: A Warning” due to backlash over his decision to support a Republican-led government funding bill.
The New York Democrat was scheduled to make appearances this week in Baltimore, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, with additional stops planned in California.
Instead, he’s vanished.
A spokesperson confirmed the events are being cancelled, citing unspecified security issues as angry progressive activists had been organizing protests at each location.
“Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer’s book events are being rescheduled,” this spokesperson said in a statement.
The cancellation comes amid unprecedented internal Democratic turmoil following Schumer’s vote last Friday to advance the Republican spending bill, which averted a government shutdown but cut deeply into nondefense programs and received only one Democratic vote in the House.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has emerged as one of Schumer’s most vocal critics, describing his decision to compromise with President Donald Trump’s administration as a “betrayal.”
“There is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters. “And this is not just about progressive Democrats. This is across the board, the entire party.”
Schumer’s vote was “a huge slap in the face” to House Democrats in districts Trump won in 2024 who took difficult votes against the bill.
The criticism has come from other Democratic leadership as well. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Schumer’s decision “unacceptable,” while current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has notably refused to express confidence in Schumer’s leadership. When asked at a news conference on Friday whether it was time for new leadership in the Senate, Jeffries responded simply: “Next question.”
Schumer met with Jeffries in Brooklyn over the weekend, according to reports, but tensions appear to remain high.
Progressive activists have been staging protests outside Schumer’s Brooklyn home and calling for his resignation. Adam Green, co-founder of the far-Left Progressive Change Campaign Committee, criticized Schumer’s disapperance.
“We hope other Democratic senators continue meeting with their constituents and demand that their leadership fight with backbone,” he said.
Schumer has defended his controversial vote as a pragmatic choice between two bad options, arguing that a government shutdown would have empowered Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to dismantle federal programs with little oversight.
“There is no off-ramp,” for a government shutdown, Schumer said in an interview Friday. “The off-ramp is in the hands of Donald Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE. We could be in a shutdown for six months or nine months.”
He expressed particular concern about entitlement programs: “The day after the shutdown, they can say all of SNAP is not essential, we’re not funding it,” referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Acknowledging the fury directed his way by the extreme left, Schumer said, “I’ll take some of the bullets.”
The escalating Democratic Party infighting comes at a challenging time for Democrats, who are still reeling from their electoral losses and searching for an effective opposition strategy against the Trump administration.
Democratic approval ratings have hit a historic, all-time low in recent weeks among voters.