Chuck Schumer's Grip on Power Weakens as He Suffers Another Dem Primary Crusher
Establishment Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have endured a rough 2026 election cycle.
Notwithstanding Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong’s stunning loss in Tuesday’s Wisconsin gubernatorial primary, a socialist wave has threatened to sweep Schumer’s old guard from power.
The deluge continued Tuesday when, according to Fox News, “progressive insurgent” Peggy Flanagan won the Democrats’ U.S. Senate primary for Minnesota.
Schumer had backed Democratic Rep. Angie Craig to represent the North Star State in the Senate.
Flanagan, the state’s lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, has appealed to the extreme left. For instance, in her victory speech on Tuesday, she targeted Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Donald Trump.
“Now let’s talk about Donald Trump’s out-of-control ICE force,” Flanagan said. “We need to rip ICE apart and stop them from terrorizing our communities. And I know this. I know that we can fix our broken immigration system, secure the border, and create a real pathway to citizenship that aligns with our values.”
In January, anti-ICE agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti lost their lives in confrontations with federal immigration agents in Minnesota.
Flanagan’s victory represented Democrat voters’ latest rebuke to their party’s establishment.
Last week, progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly prevailed in Democrats’ Michigan Senate primary. El-Sayed enjoyed the backing of socialists such as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
These results have had Republicans, including Trump, crowing about the GOP’s chances in November’s general election.
Bernadette Breslin, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, rubbed salt in establishment Democrats’ wounds following Tuesday’s results.
“Morale among Chuck Schumer’s establishment is at an all-time low, and Bernie Sanders’ socialist flank is filling the gap with candidates like Peggy Flanagan and Abdul El-Sayed,” Breslin told Fox News.
In recent months, that “socialist flank” has exerted its electoral strength.
In June, for instance, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City endorsed three socialist candidates who swept to victory over establishment Democrat challengers.
From there, the far left built nationwide momentum as Democrat voters warmed to the “Democratic Socialist” label.
Meanwhile, Republicans have largely reacted with glee in the face of establishment Democrats’ woes.
Conventional wisdom now holds that one of two things will happen in November. Either Republican candidates will defeat their progressive/socialist opponents in the general election, thereby preserving or perhaps even strengthening the GOP’s Senate majority, or the Democrats’ far-left upstarts will ride the socialist wave all the way to Capitol Hill, where they will clash with their own party’s establishment.
In either event, Schumer will likely see his Senate leadership position washed away.
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