[[link removed]]

SANDERS, WARREN HELP FORM SENATE DEMOCRATIC ‘FIGHT CLUB’
CHALLENGING SCHUMER’S LEADERSHIP  
[[link removed]]


 

Jake Johnson
November 25, 2025
Common Dreams
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ “So glad there are some Senate Dems willing to fight back,”
said one progressive strategist. _

Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, CNN

 

Angered by the Democratic leadership’s fecklessness and lack of a
bold vision for the future, a group of senators including Bernie
Sanders [[link removed]] of Vermont
[[link removed]] and Elizabeth Warren
[[link removed]] of Massachusetts
has formed an alliance to push back on Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer [[link removed]] and the
party’s campaign arm ahead of next year’s critical midterm
elections [[link removed]].

The existence of the group, known as the “Fight Club,” was first
revealed Monday by the _New York Times_
[[link removed]], which reported
[[link removed]]
that the senators are pressing the Democratic Party
[[link removed]] to “embrace
candidates willing to challenge entrenched corporate interests,
fiercely oppose the Trump administration
[[link removed]], and defy
their own party’s orthodoxy.”

Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Chris
Murphy [[link removed]] of Connecticut
are also members of the alliance, and other senators—including Ed
Markey [[link removed]] of Massachusetts
and Jeff Merkley [[link removed]] of
Oregon—have taken part in group actions, according to the _Times_.

“The coalition of at least half a dozen senators... is unhappy with
how Mr. Schumer and his fellow senator from New York, Kirsten
Gillibrand [[link removed]], the
head of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, have chosen, recruited and,
they argue, favored candidates aligned with the establishment,” the
newspaper reported. “The party’s campaign arm, the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign Committee, has not made any formal endorsements in
contested primaries. However, the senators are convinced that it is
quietly signaling support for and pushing donors toward specific
Senate candidates: Rep. Angie Craig in Minnesota, Rep. Haley Stevens
in Michigan, and Gov. Janet Mills in Maine
[[link removed]].”

Members of the “Fight Club” have endorsed Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy
Flanagan’s bid for US Senate
[[link removed]]. In addition to Flanagan,
Sanders has backed Abdul El-Sayed’s US Senate run in Michigan and
Graham Platner’s campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins
[[link removed]] in Maine.

Platner’s top opponent in the primary race, Mills, was
“aggressively recruited
[[link removed]]”
by Schumer.

 
News of the “Fight Club” alliance comes after a small group of
centrist Democrats, with Schumer’s tacit blessing, capitulated
[[link removed]]
to President Donald Trump
[[link removed]] and Republicans
[[link removed]] earlier this month by
agreeing to end the government shutdown without an extension of
Affordable Care Act
[[link removed]] subsidies, even
as health insurance premiums skyrocket nationwide.

The cave sparked widespread fury, much of it directed at Schumer.
Indivisible, a progressive advocacy group that typically aligns with
Democrats, has said
[[link removed]] it will
not support any Senate Democratic primary candidate who does not call
on Schumer to step down as minority leader.

“We must turn the page on this era of cowardice,” Indivisible said
following Senate Democrats’ capitulation. “We must nominate and
elect Democratic candidates who have an actual backbone. And we must
ensure that the kind of failed leadership we see from Sen. Schumer
does not doom a future Democratic majority.”

Thus far, no sitting member of the Senate Democratic caucus has
demanded Schumer’s resignation. But the emergence of the “Fight
Club” is the latest evidence that the Democratic leader’s support
is beginning to crumble.

“Absolutely love to see this,” progressive strategist Robert
Cruickshank wrote on social media
[[link removed]] in response to the
_Times_ reporting. “So glad there are some Senate Dems willing to
fight back.”

_Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams._

 

* Fight Club
[[link removed]]
* Progressive Caucus
[[link removed]]
* Democrats
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]