Maryland’s senior U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen is a long-time veteran of internal Democratic Party politics. Van Hollen started his political career in the Maryland House of Delegates before graduating to the State Senate. He won a highly gerrymandered congressional seat in the liberal Washington, D.C., suburbs in 2002 and in 2016 won the Senate seat previously held by Barbara Mikulski.
From his early days as a backbencher in the Senate, Van Hollen has not made waves, preferring to be a reliable liberal supporter of the Democratic Party leadership. Until now.
In recent months, Van Hollen has embarked on a concerted effort to increase his profile in a way that the left-wing base of the Democratic Party would notice. His recent surge as Senate spokesman for the far left wing of the Democratic Party looks to capitalize on several factors.
First, independent Senator Bernie Sanders is 84 years old and unlikely to carry on much longer as the leader of the left in the Senate. Based on the Fighting Oligarchy Tour led by Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders appears inclined to hand leadership of the far left to Ocasio-Cortez, making her the spokesperson for all ideas to the left of Kamala Harris.
Van Hollen has clearly moved to the left on issues important to Democratic activists. Recall that he went to El Salvador to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who had been deported by the Trump administration. Now, Abrego Garcia, back in the United States, is going through the due process afforded individuals seeking asylum. Van Hollen has continued his very visible support of Garcia.
More recently, Van Hollen has emphatically called for Democratic leaders to endorse New York City mayoral candidate and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. That was music to the ears of Ocasio-Cortez and others on the far left whose frustrations continue to build over the failure of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Jeffries and Schumer are both New Yorkers from the city, which makes their non-endorsement of Mamdani even more irritating to left-wing activists.
Van Hollen’s call for Democrats to unite in support behind Mamdani was clear, pre-planned and emphatic. He accused his Democratic colleagues who haven’t backed Mamdani of engaging in “wimpy politics.” The targets responded with a shrug or disdain. A spokesman for Jeffries deadpanned, “Chris Van who?”
Importantly, Van Hollen’s call for Democrats to rally Democrats around Mamdani was issued in Iowa. Not at the Center Club in Baltimore. Not at the Maryland Association of Counties annual summertime beach break in Ocean City, not at the annual gathering of politicos and hangers-on in Crisfield at the J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake. No! This clarion call to Democrats was aimed squarely at the far-left activists who provide the grassroots energy, the millions of small donors who fund campaigns and the devotees of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.
Former President Joe Biden knifed Iowa Democrats by moving the first 2024 nominating contests to South Carolina after having finished fourth in Iowa in the 2020 contest. But Iowa still holds a special place for presidential aspirants and the media. Thus, Van Hollen bypassed Dundalk and Annapolis to deliver his call to action at the annual Polk County, Iowa, Democratic Steak Fry.
It is not unusual for a member of the Senate to see themselves as a future president. There is no reason to think that Van Hollen is the exception to the norm. But Van Hollen’s timing also presents him with an off-ramp from the 2028 presidential primaries.
Democratic Senate leadership in flux presents Van Hollen with a golden opportunity. Current Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has hit stormy waters, and his party’s left wing smells blood in those waters. They disguise their aims to unseat Schumer as a call for generational change. But you can be certain that a contest for Democratic Senate leader between 74-year-old Schumer and 66-year-old van Hollen would be much more about ideology than age. Additionally, Schumer will be further weakened if Democrats fail to win a Senate majority in the 2026 election.
Schumer’s decision last March to keep the government open was the responsible course of action, but it infuriated the left, which wants to wage total war against the Trump administration every day of the year.
Ocasio-Cortez’s supporters would love to see a strong challenge to Schumer’s leadership. At a minimum, it weakens Schumer and helps her chances in a 2028 Senate primary race against Schumer. Should Van Hollen unseat Schumer as leader of the Senate Democrats, it makes a 2028 Schumer retirement more likely, thus opening wide the door to the Senate for Ocasio-Cortez. Van Hollen as Democratic Senate leader also moves the national Democratic Party to the left and could entice Bernie Sanders’ heir apparent to skip the Senate altogether in favor of a White House run.
This type of Democratic infighting will be upsetting to the party’s establishment wing, but Vice President JD Vance will be smiling broadly.
Kevin Igoe was chief of staff of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management from 2015-2023. He has worked on Capitol Hill and was an adviser to the Housing Commission of the Bipartisan Policy Center. He is the former deputy chief of staff of the Republican National Committee and former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party.