Schumer’s Political Crucible: A Senator Betrayed by His Own Party

It has been an unbelievably bad year for New York’s senior senator.

When Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed in the spring to avoid a federal shutdown by siding with Republicans, he found himself at odds with the far-left wing of his party.

Not wanting a repeat in the fall, he discarded his long-standing refrain that government shutdowns are futile. He allowed the budget to expire and repeatedly defended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. When seven Democratic senators supported a clean Continuing Resolution extending Biden-era spending, the left once again blamed him for letting it happen.

In other words, Schumer’s position became “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

I have known Schumer, who was once my congressman from Queens County, for over 30 years. Even though we disagree on many issues, I realized long ago that he is one of the most astute politicians I’ve ever met.

For better or worse, Chuck Schumer has been a lifelong public servant. After graduating Harvard Law School in June 1974, he was elected to the New York State Assembly and served three terms. In 1980, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives with 77% of the vote.

Eighteen years later, he beat former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro in the Democratic Senate primary. That November, as Republican Governor George Pataki was reelected for a second term, Schumer defeated Sen. “Pothole” Alfonse “Al” D’Amato.

Schumer is a workaholic who has never missed an opportunity to stand before television cameras. He has been reelected four times by large margins because he has been a pragmatic politician. He has reached across the aisle with New York Republicans to advance legislation benefiting their state.

Following Sept. 11, 2001, he worked closely with then-President George W. Bush to secure $20 billion in recovery aid. He has collaborated with unions and Wall Street and has been a prolific fundraiser for his Senate colleagues.

Why is Schumer now in the political doghouse? The far-left wing of his party lives in ideological bubbles and has no use for elected officials who govern by consensus. For these radicals, “it’s their way or the highway.” When they do not get their way, they viciously turn against perceived trespasses.

A political analyst noted that Schumer’s realism has been a key to his longevity but counts for little in today’s Democratic Party. Chuck Schumer is becoming an anachronism within his party.

This explains why the most powerful politician in New York state was booed at, of all places, the Metropolitan Opera in September!

To make matters worse, Schumer knows that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and their fellow Democratic Socialists will never be satisfied until he is driven from office.

That’s why the shutdown was for naught.

The analyst also stated: “Forcing the government shutdown was a classic Schumer gambit—flashy and misguided. He knew it wouldn’t work, yet he did it anyway, with chaotic results. He went along with the loudest voices in his party to minimize his torment at the hands of activists. What did it bring him? More anguish.”

Chuck Schumer is the longest-serving U.S. senator in New York State history. For 29 years, he has visited every one of the Empire State’s 62 counties annually and holds records for most press conferences and for bringing home the bacon to New York.

Yet, his career faces a potential thirty-something challenger in the 2028 primary. Ocasio-Cortez could not even name the three branches of government when she was a freshman in the House of Representatives.

Sen. Charles Schumer is this year’s top loser in his home state because he has capitulated to political upstarts whose ideology is out of sync with the nation and New York.