Activists accuse Schumer of ducking constituents

Politico

18-03-2025

What up, Recast fam! On today's agenda:
Chuck Schumer is resisting the cavalcade of Democrats imploring him to step down from leadership — for now. But there's no question that he's feeling the heat from progressive activists.
Last week, Schumer ignited an intraparty civil war after he backed a Republican-led measure to keep the government funded through much of the year — forcing the Senate minority leader to retreat from public view.
In what is probably one of the poorest-timed book tours in modern memory, Schumer on Monday canceled several scheduled stops to promote his 'Antisemitism in America: A Warning,' in heavily Democratic cities like Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City. The stated reason for the cancellations: 'security reasons,' as groups like Indivisible were planning protests.
'Those are the same tactics the GOP is doing right now, to cancel their public town hall meetings because they don't want to answer constituents. Chuck Schumer doing the same thing … does not speak highly to the courage or the strength of the Democratic Party leadership,' Tiara Mack tells The Recast.
Mack is a member of the steering committee of the group Pass the Torch, a progressive group that formed last year to urge President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid. The group largely disbanded after he stepped aside to allow Vice President Kamala Harris to run for the presidency. Now it's back in action, urging Schumer to step aside — or more precisely calling on Senate Democrats to ''chuck' Chuck Schumer!'
The 31-year-old Mack, who is also a state senator in Rhode Island, says Schumer is not showing he's got the tactics to fight President Donald Trump and his special government employee Elon Musk as they gut the federal bureaucracy, upending the lives of thousands of federal workers.
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'I think we have to be very clear that there is already a crisis,' Mack said, adding that Schumer's decision to not use the filibuster to hold up the bill was essentially a capitulation to Republicans who never considered Democrats' input on it anyway. 'Playing into the hand of the bullies is never a winning tactic,' she added.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries threw support to Schumer at a Tuesday press conference, saying he believes Schumer should continue on as leader of Senate Democrats. It's a sharp reversal from Friday when he said 'next question' to whether it was time for the longtime Senate leader to be replaced.
Progressive groups are forging ahead with their calls for Schumer to step down.
Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of the liberal grassroots organization Indivisible, tells The Recast he spoke to the 74-year-old Schumer over the weekend. While he declines to provide details of their conversation, he says he asked to talk to Schumer 'out of respect' for the embattled leader and to give him a heads-up the group was going to publicly call on him to resign as leader.
In a statement, Indivisible says Schumer 'surrendered leverage in the Senate' adding as an organization, it is 'ready to do the work' to save democracy and 'it's time for a Senate Democratic Leader who is too.' Another Democratic activist, Charlotte Clymer, started a petition calling for a boycott of donations to Senate Democrats or their campaign arms until Schumer resigns from his leadership post. It's garnered more than 27,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning.
One Democratic strategist The Recast granted anonymity to speak candidly about Schumer says the fact that the leader 'ran to' The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal over the weekend to make his case but refused to take tough questioning from the base at public events demonstrates he's not capable of leading the party any longer.
'Now if that's not tone deaf in 2025, I don't know what else is,' the operative says. 'I think he's a good guy. He's just past his time.'
POLITICO is also reporting Schumer's damage control efforts do not appear to be working as of yet.
All this leaves Schumer and Democrats, still reeling from the stinging 2024 losses that shut them out of power in Washington, even deeper in the wilderness. Instead of focusing on Trump, the party is being outmaneuvered by congressional Republicans that are in lockstep with the president, and amplifying the party's lack of messaging or direction.
Recent polling by CNN shows the party has only a 29 percent favorability rating, while 54 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of Democrats. A survey from NBC News showed much of the same: 27 percent had a positive view of the party, while 55 percent had a negative view of Democrats.
Basil Smikle is a longtime Democratic strategist based in New York, where he says the outrage among the grassroots is amplified by Schumer's decision to support the short-term continuing resolution. Still, he doesn't think the blowback represents a death knell.
One possible reason why the Senate leader may have backed off progressives' confrontation strategy, he says: Schumer lacked confidence in the party's ability to clearly tie Republicans to a government shutdown.
'If he doesn't believe the [Democrats'] messaging apparatus is strong enough to withstand that kind of pressure that Republicans certainly would have pushed … my guess is that that's why he's making this move,' Smikle tells The Recast. 'I think for him, he's like, 'We can't be the ones that cause any more pain.''
That pain is now being squarely felt by Schumer himself, with a base of the party actively looking to make generational change.
We'll keep watching this to see how it all plays out.
All the best,The Recast Team
SPECIAL ELECTION TO REPLACE GRIJALVA
Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the dates for the state's special primary election and special general election for the congressional seat left vacant by the death of Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva.
July 15 is the date of the primary for Arizona's deep-blue 7th Congressional District. The winner of the Democratic primary will likely be a shoo-in to win the general election on Sept. 3.
The Democratic primary is likely to attract a crowded field.
Grijalva, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was first elected in 2002 and went on to become one of Arizona's longest-serving representatives in state history. He died last week after battling lung cancer. He was 77.
The late congressman's daughter, Adelita Grijalva, who serves as Pima County supervisor, is thought to be considering a run for the seat. (The Tucson Sentinel reports she will not make a decision until after her father's funeral.) Another name being floated: Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, also thought to be eyeing the seat, took herself out of the running, according to The Arizona Republic, saying her current job is 'the best way for me to continue our work on behalf of Tucsonans.'
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING THIS WEEK
Trump administration officials celebrated their use of an obscure wartime authority, the Alien Enemies Act, to carry out swift mass deportations of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador. POLITICO's Josh Gerstein has the update, including about why, during Monday's court proceedings, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg 'raised his voice, rejecting the Justice Department's contention that the government had an exceptionally urgent need to move the planes.'
What else we're watching:
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Ye and Kim battle over North's rap — Kim Kardashian is reportedly considering trying to strip her ex-husband, the rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, of legal custody of their four kids over Ye's use of their oldest daughter North's rapping in a new song.