I was about to close my eyes for a quick cat-nap with Duke by my side on Friday afternoon when, suddenly, my phone rang.
The call-screening feature on my phone flashed a message: “Hi Jim, it’s Chuck Schumer.”
The call was totally out of nowhere from New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, the party’s sometimes embattled leader in the U.S. Senate. I didn’t realize Schumer even had my number. And I hadn’t called him. But he wanted to run through how the party was feeling heading into next week. What was I supposed to do? Let it go to voice mail?
Senator Schumer jumped right into the reason for his call. He wryly told me he’s “nauseously optimistic” that Democrats will have a good night on Tuesday and retake the Senate. Democrats, he noted, were facing a massive campaign spending disadvantage, pointing to the mind-boggling amounts of money being thrown at the midterms by Republicans. But he believes the party’s strong slate of candidates and strategy of expanding the Senate battleground map will carry them back into the majority.
Holding on to Michigan is clearly on the minds of party leaders heading into Tuesday. A senior Democratic Senate source told me they’ve been in discussions with Abdul El-Sayed two or three times per week to talk through messaging in the final stretch to hold off Mike Rogers, who has mounted one of the most blatantly racist campaigns in recent memory - next to President Donald Trump, of course. But, simply put, Democrats believe Rogers is going down.
The source said the party is confident about winning Michigan, Maine, Ohio, Minnesota, Texas, and yes even Kansas. Alaska is also looking good to Senate Dems. They believe South Carolina is winnable but it will be very close.
Why is Schumer “nauseously” optimistic? They’re uncertain how far Trump will go to thwart the will of the American people as he did in 2020. But Senate Dems note Trump was stopped in his tracks on mail-in ballots so he’s had to resort to such desperate efforts as the DOJ’s case in Alaska.
Schumer politely ended the call, saying he hoped I would share my reporting on my next podcast, before thanking yours truly for “fighting the good fight.” I had the feeling he planned to make other similar calls to reporters, anchors and influencers before the end of the day. It occurred to me that the Senator would probably like to be the Majority Leader come next January (ya think?!?) - a scenario that may not delight progressives but will likely come to pass. But the battle over the next Senate leader seems small when compared to the task ahead in just a few days - slamming the brakes on Trump’s autocratic march and bringing back some good old-fashioned divided government back to Washington. A landscape Chuck Schumer knows all too well.
It’s hard for me to trust a man that takes money in return for a vote.
The American people understand that congressional democrats have been given a mandate to seek justice and accountability and provide relief from economic stress. Working across the aisle and “moving on” is not a part of that mandate. They had better understand that. One thing I hope we all have learned is not to be a captured electorate. Now more than ever we need to apply continuous pressure.