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CONCORD, N.H. — Amid heated calls by some House Democrats and others in the party to remove Sen. Chuck Schumer from his longtime role as Senate Democratic leader, a leading Democrat in the chamber is calling for “more effective leadership.”
And Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told Fox News Digital that Schumer needs to lead a conversation to “stop having a group of members cross over and support Donald Trump’s agenda.”
Murphy was interviewed on Wednesday, two days after seven Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the party, bucked Senate Democratic leaders and voted with the majority Republicans to end the longest federal government shutdown in history.
Plenty of progressives and center-left Democrats have pilloried the deal to end the shutdown, which didn’t include the Democrats’ top priority, an agreement to extend expiring subsidies that make health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, known as the ACA or ObamaCare, more affordable to millions of Americans.
SCHUMER FACES FURY FROM THE LEFT OVER DEAL TO END SHUTDOWN
And even though he opposed the agreement, Schumer, the top Democrat in the chamber, has faced calls from some House Democrats and others in the party to step down due to his inability to keep Senate Democrats unified.
But to date, no Senate Democrat has joined those calls for Schumer to step down.
Asked if Schumer was still up to the task of steering Senate Democrats, Murphy said, “I think his job is really, really hard. He obviously did not want this outcome. He wanted the caucus to stay together. He was not successful in that endeavor.”
TRUMP ARGUES SCHUMER MADE A MISTAKE
“We’ve got to have a hard conversation as a caucus about what we all need to do, what kind of leadership we need in order to make sure that we don’t continue to break apart,” added Murphy, who as Deputy Democratic Conference Secretary is a member of the party’s leadership in the chamber.
And he noted that “this is the fourth major moment this year where a handful of Democrats have crossed over and voted with Donald Trump.”
“That means we need more effective leadership. That also means that the caucus has to decide for itself that we’re not going to continue to break apart like this,” he emphasized.
Murphy said Senate Democrats “have to make a decision as a caucus to stop breaking apart like this.” And pointing to Schumer, he added, “That’s a conversation that, yes, the leader of the caucus has to head up, but it’s a conversation all of us have to have. We all have to hold each other accountable.”
Murphy was interviewed after headlining an event in New Hampshire’s capital city with the Merrimack County Democrats. New Hampshire’s two lawmakers in the Senate — Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan — were among the Democrats who supported the deal with Republicans.
SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: DEMOCRATIC SENATOR STANDS FIRM AFTER DEFYING PARTY
Shaheen, who previously supported a bill to extend the ACA subsidies, on Monday defended breaking with her party to support the deal.
“We’re making sure that the people of America can get the food benefits that they need, that air traffic controllers can get paid, that federal workers are able to come back, the ones who were let go, that they get paid, that contractors get paid, that aviation moves forward,” Shaheen said in a “Fox and Friends” interview.
Asked about Shaheen’s comments, Murphy said Senate Democrats “had a big disagreement.”
“I understand why my colleagues wanted to end the shutdown. I wanted to end this shutdown. The fact is that shutdowns hurt and Trump was making the shutdown even worse than it had to be by, for instance, illegally denying people food stamp benefits, nutrition benefits,” Murphy argued.
But he added, “I still think we could have won. I think as these premium increases were just becoming real for people, as folks are digesting an election that clearly was a referendum on the way that Donald Trump was plunging the country to shut down, we could have actually gotten a resolution that would have stopped at least some of the pain that’s coming to families as these healthcare premiums go into effect.”
The deal to end the shutdown does not include such a provision, but only a promise by the majority Republicans to hold an upcoming vote on extending the subsidies.
And Murphy lamented that the deal will only embolden the president.
“I definitely worry that when Trump gets the opposition party to yield to him, as he did last week, that it just emboldens him, that he ends up acting even more lawlessly and recklessly and illegally,” he said. “I understand why my colleagues wanted to end this shutdown. I am just of the belief that Trump is going to constantly try to weaponize our compassion against us.”
Murphy, who during former President Joe Biden’s tenure in the White House spent much of his time trying to reach across the aisle to find common ground with Republicans on such issues as gun control, immigration, and Ukraine, is now helping fund organizations that are pushing back against Trump and his agenda.
“I’ve been making grants to protest organizations and grassroots organizations all around the country,” he said.
And the senator, who won re-election last year in blue-leaning Connecticut by nearly 20 points, highlighted that “I’ve been all over the country this year. I’ve been holding town halls, often with other colleagues, targeting mostly states that are represented by Republicans, so that they’re hearing the other side.”
And looking ahead to next year’s midterm elections, he said, “I’ll likely be traveling throughout New England, but also throughout the rest of the country, to try to help stand up a national mobilization against Trump’s corruption.”
Murphy is seen by political pundits as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, which is expected to be a crowded and competitive race.
After his interview with Fox News Digital, Murphy headlined the latest “Stand Up New Hampshire Town Hall.” The speaking series, organized by top New Hampshire Democratic elected officials and party leaders, is seen as an early cattle call for potential White House contenders.
The New Hampshire Republican Party welcomed Murphy to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state with an email released titled “NHGOP Welcomes Future Failed Presidential Candidate Chris Murphy to New Hampshire.”
Asked about a possible presidential run in 2028, Murphy said, “I think it’d be so foolish for any of us to be thinking about running in an election in 2028 that may not happen. I mean, I think this moment is really serious. I think Donald Trump is trying to rig the rules of American democracy so that either he can run again or that the opposition party has no chance to win.”
Pointing to his current mission “to help save our democracy,” Murphy insisted “that’s all I’m focused on right now. And I think that is what I would recommend to all of my colleagues, whether they’re thinking about running for national office in 2028 or whether they have no plans to do so.”
We have one mission right now, which is to make sure there actually is an election in 2028 where a Democrat has a reasonable chance of winning,” he added.
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