Democratic governors criticize Chuck Schumer for weak resistance to Trump

(Pritzker, Walz, Kelly, Beshear, Healey, Hochul)

Exchange between six governors and Senate minority leader exposes divisions in party over opposition approach

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/30/chuck-schumer-democrats-criticism


The governors pleaded with Schumer to resist Trump’s confirmation of his cabinet picks more strongly. Photograph: Allison Dinner/EPA

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has reportedly been criticised by some of the party’s state governors for not resisting Donald Trump’s agenda and cabinet nominees strongly enough.

The exchange took place in a conference between Schumer and six Democratic governors that laid bare differences within the party over how to counteract a seemingly rampant Trump as he wreaks upheaval across the political landscape with an avalanche of executive orders, the New York Times reported.

The governors, led by JB Pritzker of Illinois and Maura Healey of Massachusetts, pleaded with Schumer to slow down the confirmation of Trump’s cabinet by persuading fellow senators to vote against his nominees wherever possible. They said the party needed to generate more public opposition than senators had managed in the chamber so far.

The appeal came in the week the Senate is meeting to confirm two of Trump’s most contentious cabinet picks, Robert F Kennedy Jr, as health and human services secretary, and Tulsi Gabbard, for the role of national intelligence director.

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