Just a few short weeks after fellow Democratic lawmakers called for his job and questioned his leadership, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) just revealed his plan for the Democrats to take back control of the Senate.
But is it enough to save his job?
Schumer is betting on a dire warning that President Donald Trump will appoint two more Supreme Court justices if Republicans maintain control of the upper chamber — a message he hopes will galvanize Democratic voters to flip upcoming seats back to Democratic control.
Schumer and Democrats will need to flip at least four GOP-held seats in the 2026 midterms to reclaim a majority.
“If we lose the Senate by one seat, and Trump puts two 40-year-olds on the Supreme Court … you won’t be happy,” Schumer told Axios about his pitch to potential Senate candidates needed to flip important red states.
“It was patriotism that motivated these people.”
“North Carolina, Maine, Ohio and Alaska … those four, we’re going to win,” Schumer said in an interview yesterday at Senate Democrats’ campaign headquarters in D.C.
President Trump would need just a majority of votes in the Senate to confirm any Supreme Court justice. However, a Democratic majority would act as a check to that.
And Schumer is betting his political career on that.
Schumer has started recruiting former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) as the four dark horse candidates he feels have the best chance to flip the critical red states.
Pelota announced Monday that she is officially running for the Senate in Alaska.
Peltola positioned herself as an independent-minded Democrat in her announcement video, saying her agenda will focus on “fish, family and freedom” as well as introducing term limits and addressing rising costs in the state.
Pelota served as Alaska’s sole House member for over two years before Republican Nick Begich defeated her by less than three percentage points in 2024, the same year President Trump won the state by 13 points.
Schumer’s plan may ultimately hinge primarily on Pelota.
According to race ratings by the nonpartisan Cook Political report, Democrats best chance of reclaiming the Senate majority hinges on winning Alaska’s race, in addition to flipping seats in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio, as well as holding onto all of their current seats, including winning competitive races in Georgia and Michigan.
Alaska’s elections use a unique, nonpartisan top-four primary in which all candidates appear on the same ballot and the four candidates receiving the most votes advance to the general election.
In the general election, voters use ranked-choice voting (RCV), ranking candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates based on voters’ next choices. This process of elimination and redistribution repeats until one candidate secures a majority.
However, Schumer’s plan presents potential problems that could backfire and cost him his job — and control of the Senate — as many have been aligned with voting Schumer out of his leadership role.
“Democrats’ battleground map is littered with failed career politicians no longer aligned with the values of their states and messy, nasty primaries that will leave Schumer with a majority of candidates that have all pledged to vote him out,” Joanna Rodriguez, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement about Schumer’s plan.
Pelota is the only one of Schumer’s recruits to officially launch a bid for the Senate.
This is an ongoing story. Check back for further updates.