Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Thursday he would run to be the Senate majority leader, prompting a challenge to Senator Chuck Schumer, following the midterm elections in which their party won a majority in the chamber.
Van Hollen, who represents Maryland, said that in the midterm elections, in which Democrats also secured a majority in the House of Representatives, voters called for "a change from the status quo that isn't working for working people."
"It's now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership," he added.
Schumer released a statement of his own on Thursday, saying he had the votes to continue serving as the Democratic leader in the Senate.
