Axios: Schumer Popularity Among House Dems ‘Between Elon and Ebola’

Amusing, certainly. A threat to Chuck Schumer’s leadership? Maaaybee.

It’s no secret that Schumer has become a target for progressives in his own party, and for at least a few good reasons. Schumer led Democrats into a political box canyon and then yelled “Charge!” … only to sound retreat less than a day later. And House Democrats have good reason to feel betrayed by Schumer, who essentially sawed off the limb on which they had climbed a few days earlier.

But how much does that matter in the Senate? Technically, not at all, but only in the short term, as Axios suggests:

Some House members are urging Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) behind closed doors to mount a primary bid against the New York senator in 2028.

• “From the threads I am on, [people are] pissed off … and not just the typical lefties,” one House Democrat told Axios on the condition of anonymity to share details of members’ private communications.
• A senior House Democrat said of their colleagues’ mood toward Schumer: “His popularity is hovering somewhere between Elon Musk and the Ebola virus.”
• A third House Democrat who represents a swing district, when asked about Schumer, responded sarcastically: “Who?”

In other words, Schumer may not face a leadership revolt, but could find himself under fire in the primary for 2028. Even the start of that process is two years out, however, so that’s a secondary concern for Schumer at the moment. He has plenty of time to make it up to House Democrats, and AOC has at least another year in which she could easily alienate New York Democrat voters outside of Brooklyn. There’s a big difference between congressional and Senate electorates in large-population states like New York, after all.

For the moment, though, the hits will likely keep coming for Schumer. The only concession Schumer managed to get was a bipartisan budget patch for Washington DC, which has been limited to spending authorizations set in the FY2024 budget. To get the CR across, Senate Majority Leader John Thune arranged for the separate authorization — which doesn’t involve new federal funds — to pass by unanimous consent. 

The House still has to pass it, though, and it looks like House Republicans are in no mood to take it up:

☀️NEWS in AM — House Republican leadership does not believe it will be able to bring up the D.C. budget fix next week.

The Senate UC’ed it last week.

GOP leadership thinks this will be a heavy lift in the House. A huge number of House Rs are going to be against it. The W.H. is…

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 19, 2025

GOP leadership thinks this will be a heavy lift in the House. A huge number of House Rs are going to be against it. The W.H. is for it, but will Trump lean in? 

Will they have enough for suspension? Unclear. Can they get a rule through Rules and the floor? Also unclear.

They will have discussions next week to figure out if they have a path.

D.C. officials have warned of a $1B  budget cut if the city is forced to revert to FY2024 spending without the fix.  

Prediction: Trump will not “lean into it.” He approved the idea as a sop to Schumer in exchange for expediting the process for the CR to avoid a technical shutdown. But even that wasn’t much of a favor; Schumer knew what Trump and Elon Musk would do with even a short shutdown. It allowed Schumer to save the barest amount of face after his humiliating retreat. 

House Republicans aren’t interested in helping Schumer save face, nor for that matter helping Hakeem Jeffries to do the same. They likely see this bill as leverage for the upcoming budget negotiations for FY2026, which will begin shortly, and won’t mind squeezing DC for a few weeks while that ramps up. The GOP also wants direct control of DC again to deal with the rampant crime and failed public services in the capital, and may want to use this on leverage for that fight as well. In either or both cases, holding off on this bill will force House Democrats to negotiate for the concession. 

As for being at a popularity level between “Elon Musk and the Ebola virus,” perhaps these same House Democrats should take a closer look at the polls. That describes the status of the Democrat Party right now, and they’re all sliding closer to Ebola as they continue La Résistance 2.0: Proggo Boogaloo. Perhaps the issue isn’t Schumer as much as it is the entire party’s descent into Leftist rigor, a point that we’ve raised in the past and will return to again later today.