Calls Are Increasing for AOC to Primary Chuck Schumer in New York, but Will She?

Following the news that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would vote for cloture in the Senate, essentially allowing the Republicans to pass their budget bill without any resistance, there have been ferocious outcries. AOC has been publicly opposed to Chuck Schumer throughout the 2025 budget voting process and has made it clear that she thinks Democrats should use this moment to demand concessions from Republicans or shut the government down.

AOC's vocal resistance has been some loud that it has also led to calls by some within her own party to primary the majority leader when he's next up for reelection. Now, many want to know whether that's really her plan.

AOC has not stated her intentions publicly, and she likely wouldn't for several years. What's clear, though, is that many inside the Democratic Party believe that AOC's desire to resist the Trump administration reflects their own values better than Schumer's confusing stance and capitulation.

AOC has been urging those who follow her to call their senators and demand that they vote no on cloture, and she has maintained her focus on that fight.

In fact, when she was asked whether she thought Democrats needed new leadership, she avoided answering the question completely.

“We have time to correct course on this decision. Senate Democrats can vote no. We can correct course, and that is the most important thing in front of us right now,” she said.

CNN is reporting that privately, though, some of AOC's House colleagues are now speaking out to urge her to get into a primary against Schumer.

While many of the voices calling for AOC to primary Schumer were coming from the left, one member claimed that Schumer had them so mad that even centrists were ready to support her in a primary.

Schumer is not up for reelection until 2028, and he is one of the most senior members of the Senate. That means that mounting a primary challenge against him would be a monumental undertaking.

AOC will likely make her decision about whether to primary him much closer to that actual election, but if Schumer is not able to turn his reputation around within his own party, the calls for him to step aside or only going to get louder.

It's also worth noting that, at 78, Schumer would not be a young man if he won another six-year term in the Senate.

AOC, meanwhile, has stayed laser-focused on this cloture vote and criticized those in the Senate who are too scared to offer any real resistance to Republicans.

“There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people, in order to defend Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare,” she said.

“Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think is a huge slap in the face," she continued. "And I think there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned.”