Schumer: ‘We’re on the edge of taking back the Senate’

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said his party is “on the edge of taking back the Senate” after two turbulent years of President Trump’s leadership, which has coincided with rising prices across the nation and partisan warfare in Washington.

“We Dems have the wind in our sails heading into October and the final stretch,” Schumer told reporters Wednesday at the Capitol. “Americans are frustrated with higher costs and a government they don’t believe is working for them.”

He cited “soaring costs,” such as the price of gasoline and diesel , which have risen to $4.41 per gallon and $6.53 nationally, respectively, “millions” of Americans losing access to healthcare because of the expiration of insurance premium subsidies and Medicaid cuts , the unpopularity of the war in Iran, and Trump’s aggressive deportation policies.

Schumer said his Senate Democratic colleagues are brimming with confidence about taking back the Senate majority — or at least picking up enough seats to put their conference in position to win back the majority in 2028.

“We’re in great shape. Everyone is really very, very pleased with where we are today compared to where we were 20 months ago,” Schumer said when asked about his standing as Democratic leader amid growing criticism of the party establishment in Washington by progressive candidates in battleground races.

“This election is a close election, there’s no question about it. We do not want to be overconfident but what we’re seeing in state after state after state is that people are sick of Trump, they’re sick of the Republican Senate going along with him, and they see the clear divisions we have drawn between what we stand for and what they stand for,” he said.

“That has put us on the edge of victory, but we still have a ways to go,” he continued.

Schumer is tempering his expectations of sweeping Democratic victories at the polls next month after falling short of his rosy projections in 2024.

The senior senator from New York predicted at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024 that Democrats would hold the Senate and were even poised to pick up seats with former Vice President Harris atop the ticket.

Instead, Senate Democrats wound up losing four seats and the majority in 2024 after Republican Jim Justice won the race to replace retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) lost their races.

Asked about criticism of his leadership, Schumer replied: “I have focused totally, like the north star, on winning back the Senate, and I think people recognize that we’ve had a lot of success and are getting very close.”

He said he will be “doing everything I can” over the next month to take back the chamber by working with Senate candidates but declined to say whether he would travel to any battleground states to campaign.

Senate Republicans, however, think they still have a good chance of keeping their majority as they have battle-tested GOP incumbents, such as Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska), running in key races.

Democrats are counting on popular former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) to win the North Carolina Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

But to win the majority, they would also need to knock off Collins, who has defeated a string of Democratic challengers in Maine over the years, and also win in states that Trump won handily in 2024, such as Iowa, Ohio and Texas.

Democrats need a net pickup of four seats to win back the Senate majority.