A small but unusually forceful bloc of left-wing senators has begun openly challenging Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s strategy for the 2026 midterms—and his entire posture toward President Donald Trump.
It’s an early, unmistakable sign of internal agitation as Democrats brace for another volatile election cycle.
According to The New York Times, the group of about six senators—led by national heavyweights like Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren—has dubbed itself the “Fight Club.”
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist who never received Schumer’s endorsement.
The name is tongue-in-cheek, but the mission isn’t: They’re taking direct aim at Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who oversees the party’s Senate campaign arm and has shaped its roster of preferred candidates.
Their uprising reflects something deeper than personal irritation. It mirrors a long-simmering frustration among Democratic voters who believe that party leaders have failed to project a clear, ambitious vision or to demonstrate a real appetite for political combat.
As the Times reports, these senators are fed up with the way Schumer and Gillibrand have selected and boosted establishment-aligned contenders whom they see as uninspired at best and self-sabotaging at worst.
The cracks have shown back home in New York, where neither Schumer nor Gillibrand endorsed Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist. But Mamdani didn’t just win; he routed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, a result that has only sharpened questions about what, exactly, the party’s leaders are afraid of.
This early-stage rebellion is remarkable in itself. Schumer has long faced grumbling from within his caucus, but the emergence of an organized faction willing to openly challenge him signals something more serious—a belief that sticking with the status quo could cost Democrats the majority.
The “Fight Club” senators insist that their quarrel isn’t about ideology so much as posture. Party leaders, the senators argue, are still working from a playbook written for a different era. In their view, that approach is bleeding energy from a base that wants candidates who will stand up to the Trump administration and stop tiptoeing around the party’s more cautious instincts.
Besides Sanders and Warren, the group reportedly includes Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut. Others—Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico—have also joined conversations.
Their attention is now trained on several open Senate primaries in Minnesota, Michigan, and Maine. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hasn’t issued formal endorsements, but the group worries that its silence amounts to a tacit blessing for more moderate picks, like Maine’s Janet Mills.
Schumer’s office flatly rejects the idea of a brewing schism.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is among the Democrats behind the “Fight Club.”
“Our North Star is winning the Senate majority in 2026, and any decision is made to achieve that goal,” spokesperson Alex Nguyen told the Times.
Even so, the Times notes that the “Fight Club” may endorse candidates who differ from those favored by the official campaign arm—a sign that the caucus’s center of gravity is shifting.
Its first joint action came quickly, with a video endorsing Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in her primary against Rep. Angie Craig.
For now, though, the group’s plans remain fluid. It’s been workshopping ideas in person and on an active text chain: joint fundraising, shared donor lists, coordinated endorsements, and campaign appearances. Nothing is locked in, but the intent is clear: They want to build leverage.
The discontent, of course, extends far beyond this faction. Schumer’s numbers have been weak for months. Polling routinely shows him underwater in his home state, and a recent Siena survey put his favorability at its lowest level in decades, with just 32% of New Yorkers offering a positive view.
Still, the “Fight Club” isn’t preparing a direct assault on incumbents, nor does it plan to intervene in Ohio or North Carolina, where Schumer recruited former Sen. Sherrod Brown and former Gov. Roy Cooper.
Their argument is more straightforward: The DSCC should stay out of primaries altogether and let voters choose candidates without a thumb on the scale. Speaking as a bloc, they hope, makes that case harder for leadership to ignore.
Related | Can progressives ride Mamdani’s momentum into the midterms?
Not that they agree on everything.
In Michigan—home to one of the cycle’s highest-stakes Democratic primaries—Sanders and Heinrich landed on different endorsed candidates. But the broader point stands: They believe that Schumer’s approach to elections is uninspired and increasingly out of step with their voters.
And the catalyst for this rebellion traces back to Schumer’s decision not to endorse Mamdani.
Now a cluster of progressive senators is putting muscle behind the frustration that’s been simmering on the left for months. Whether their push forces Schumer to bend—or triggers a much bigger fight—remains the open question hanging over the party’s next chapter.
