Maryland Sen. Van Hollen declines to back Chuck Schumer as majority leader

I'm going to look at that and say, who is best placed to get us action, to get money out of politics, put money in pockets, pass Medicare for all? You know, I was very clear early on that I'm not going to say who I'm not for. I'm going to say who I am for. I am for Chris Van Hollen. If he decides he wants to be Senate Majority Leader, I think he'd be amazing at the job. Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed backing Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen to be the new majority leader. Democrats are set to take control on Capitol Hill in January. Senator Van Hollen joining us live on Fox 5. Senator, thank you for joining us. Kenneth, it's great to be with you. So let's get it right to it. Do you want to be the next Senate majority leader? I've made clear that I'm not looking to be the next Democratic leader. I've been kicking the tires on a 2028 presidential election. And I do think, to Abdul El-Sayed's point, I'm glad to have him and others as new colleagues. I think it's important that the Senate Democratic Caucus have a full and open debate before we select the next leader, whoever that may be. I don't think it should be automatic. And I think we need to have a plan and we need to make it clear that we're going to be united behind a common plan. Before I get to that follow up, did I hear you right? You're running for president. I said I'm kicking the tires. I've been traveling around the country over the last couple months, both supporting candidates for these midterms and I'm glad we had such a good night for American democracy on Tuesday. But I'm also talking about the fact that I don't think the Democratic Party can only tell people what we're against. We have to show people what we stand for and that we're fighting for working people and working to unrig. An economic system that right now is screwing working Americans right and left and a political system that has been corrupted by big money. So that is the message that I've certainly got back from the American people. And I think it's part of what the other night's results were all about. Before we get into those issues, as far as majority leader, if you are not in the running for it, is Chuck Schumer the right person for the job for right now? So my view is that whoever's going to be the next majority leader in the United States Senate needs to make clear to the caucus that he or she is going to do everything within our power to end the illegal and senseless war in Iran and do it now. I think it's also important that whoever is is willing to pass a aggressive kitchen table agenda to help people who are being economically squeezed. And so the major point here, Kenneth, is that we should have a discussion. I don't think it's radical to say that the Democratic Senate caucus, including our new members, should meet and ask whoever is seeking to be the Democratic leader in the Senate. What the plan is to answer the call from the American people from Tuesday. And Senator, in the election postmortem, some Democratic voters and maybe some Republicans who flipped are starting to voice frustrations with how Democrats plan to move. They want to focus on affordability and aggressive accountability on the Trump administration and the president's family. Can you legislate and investigate? Well, you can certainly legislate and hold people accountable. And yes, investigate. These are not mutually exclusive things. I mean, people can walk and chew gum at the same time. And I do think it's important that we have accountability for what has been the most corrupt administration in American history. I mean, you've got a president who made $2 billion out of the Oval Office over the last two years and whose family members are clearly Using the presidency and the. White House to further their their personal financial gain. So I think that's an important area of inquiry because it's coming at the expense of the American people. But you can also pass an aggressive kitchen table issue to deal with the cost issue, to put more money in people's pockets. Those are very important priorities. Getting those costs down and also the federal job cuts that we've seen in the DMV. Quickly, how do you plan to stop the hemorrhaging? Because it's not in the headlines, but federal jobs are still being lost, especially black women disproportionately impacted here in the DMV. Well, we can use the power of the purse to stop the administration from taking some of the actions they've been taking, right? They brought in Elon Musk early in the administration with his chainsaw. We can make it clear that no monies may be spent for certain purposes. Like, for example, they're trying to convert a lot of merit-based positions right now into positions for political cronies. We can say no monies may be spent for that. We want merit-based federal employees. Not political cronies. So there are things we can do. Senator, I got to go, but thank you for joining us. And when you're done kicking those tires, let us know here on Fox 5.