Chuck Schumer is about to get his old job back, and the same Americans who couldn't stand him three months ago are supposed to cheer. The Brooklyn Democrat is likely to be chosen Senate majority leader after his party rode a midterm wave back to control of both chambers — a stunning turnaround for a politician whose approval numbers were in the gutter just weeks ago.
Why it matters: Schumer has spent decades in Washington rubber-stamping foreign aid packages and corporate giveaways while ordinary Americans saw their paychecks eaten by inflation and their towns hollowed out. Now he'll have the gavel and the committee assignments to keep that gravy train rolling.
The numbers tell the story the establishment doesn't want to dwell on. A Siena University survey last November found just 32% of New York voters viewed Schumer favorably — his lowest mark in 21 years of polling. By May, the picture was even uglier: 33% favorable, 52% unfavorable, with 40% of his own Democrats souring on him, according to Siena. Nationally, the Real Clear Politics average put him at 25% favorable, 49% unfavorable — the worst rating of any top American political leader. The New York Post reported those figures. The man was radioactive.
Then came the midterms. Democrats won upwards of 55 seats and flipped control of both chambers, and suddenly Schumer — credited alongside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand with recruiting the candidates who made it happen — is a winner again. "Nobody can argue with the results," New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs told the Post. "He did the impossible. He created a Democratic majority."
Former Republican Sen. Al D'Amato, whom Schumer ousted a generation ago, put it plainly: "Being the majority leader turns things around. He's got a lot of power."
Power is the point. Schumer's willingness to wield it was already on display during the campaign. The New York Daily News reported that Schumer publicly condemned Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens as a "despicable betrayal" after she endorsed the Republican rival of now Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated Stevens in a primary where Israel was the flashpoint. El-Sayed was caught telling donors to "put one ogre on a pike" — a reference to Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who criticized El-Sayed's anti-Israel positions. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., chose party loyalty over a sitting Democrat who objected to El-Sayed's stance on Israel. So much for principle.
Schumer told the Post that helping New York has always been his "North Star" and that with the majority, he has "a real chance on delivering that help." He's 75 and up for re-election in 2028. Emboldened leftists, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, had been testing the waters for a potential primary challenge. A gavel makes that a lot harder.
The question nobody in Washington will answer honestly: delivering for whom? The same Schumer who oversaw billions in foreign aid and corporate subsidies while his own constituents could barely afford rent is now back at the levers of power. The titles change. The spending priorities don't.
