Trans activist’s petition to remove Chuck Schumer from Senate Dem leadership reaches 50,000 signatures

Charlotte Clymer, who started the petition, wrote, "Between Election Day in 2024 and Inauguration Day in January, Mr. Schumer completely failed to prepare for the widely anticipated threats posed to the stability of our country by Trump and Elon Musk. In the early months of the 119th Congress, Mr. Schumer was effectively impotent as Minority Leader, offering no comprehensive plan or strategy to combat the efforts by Trump and Elon Musk to demolish the federal government and harm the American people."

Clymer wrote that Schumer’s "stated approach of waiting for Trump to 'screw up' and continue this inexplicable embrace of the slippery slope is wholly inadequate and an astonishing failure of leadership."

"With his vote earlier this year to approve Trump's federal budget continuing resolution, Mr. Schumer decidedly abdicated his critical responsibilities to the American people in a moment of compounding crises for our nation and the world. It is now not lost on us that Mr. Schumer, despite voting against the shutdown deal this month, most certainly put it together by getting retiring and out-of-cycle Senate Dems to go along with the GOP.

"We, the undersigned, completely reject Mr. Schumer's approach of appeasement in response to the deeply irresponsible, dangerous, and cruel attacks by Trump and Elon Musk on the American people. Enough is enough. We need new leadership to meet this grave moment, and we need it now."

The petition had initially been launched in March, after Schumer voted to allow a Republican continuing resolution funding bill to move forward. Schumer said at the time, while being faced with backlash, "Look, I’m not stepping down."

Schumer is again facing backlash over a continuing resolution moving forward. While Schumer had voted no against the package, enough Senate Democrats sided with Republicans that it finally passed the chamber after weeks of a government shutdown.

The bill is heading back to the House for a final vote, where Democrat House representatives have criticized Schumer’s leadership. Rep. Ro Khanna claimed that Schumer "is no longer effective and should be replaced."

Rep. Seth Moulton called for "new leadership," and added, "If Chuck Schumer were an effective leader, he would have united his caucus to vote ‘No’ tonight and hold the line on healthcare. Maybe now Ed Markey will finally join me in pledging not to vote for Schumer?"

Ahead of the Senate vote, Senator Elizabeth Warren posted to X, "I will not support a deal that does nothing to make health care more affordable. We are in a health care emergency. A simple one-year extension of these tax credits would cost less than Donald Trump’s $40 billion bailout for Argentina. A vote for this bill is a mistake."

There are at least 11 Democrat lawmakers, 15 organizations, and 8 Democrat candidates calling for Schumer to step down. Among those is the group Indivisible, which has promoted and launched the "No Kings" protests.

The organization has said that there are "two criteria for Indivisible’s support" for Senate candidates, to oppose Schumer as Majority Leader, and for Democrat primary candidates to make "a clear commitment to abandon the status quo of feckless leadership, and use every tool available to fight MAGA attacks on our communities, our health, and our democracy."