DENVER — Sen. Chris Van Hollen once ran Senate Democrats’ campaign arm with Chuck Schumer’s backing. Now, a day after launching a long-shot bid to replace Schumer as leader, he is pitching himself as the candidate who will take on the party establishment he once helped run.

“We should not be preserving institutions if they are not delivering for the American people, and we should be delivering for the American people the single mission of our government — even when that means shaking things up,” the Maryland Democrat told a crowd of Democratic operatives and activists at the What’s Next gathering, drawing loud cheers. “And that is why I am running for majority leader in the United States Senate.”

Van Hollen announced his challenge to Schumer on MS NOW’s “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” on Thursday night.

He said he had spoken with Schumer about it, and that he would not run for president in 2028. “I am no longer pursuing that,” he said.

As of press time, only four other members of the incoming Democratic caucus have publicly backed Van Hollen’s leadership bid: Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Sens.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota.

Speaking with reporters, Van Hollen called his whip count “very much in flux.” He described himself as “the underdog” in this race, and said Schumer “has lots of powers of incumbency to try to make deals or agreements with people.”

“That’s actually part of the problem with the process, but I can tell you that a lot of my colleagues want to see a whole different approach to governing in the United States Senate and in the Senate Democratic caucus,” he said. “The bottom line: I’m not going to put out a number.”

Apart from the election for House speaker, which happens in a public floor vote, congressional leadership races are opaque affairs decided by secret ballot. Even the candidates can be surprised by the final tallies. And although a string of Democratic senators have said they will not support Schumer, that does npt mean they will vote for Van Hollen.

For now, the smart money is on Schumer winning the majority leader post.

“This is more serious than [Schumer’s team] were prepared for, but I think Chuck will have enough votes by Dec. 1,” said a senior Democratic Senate aide who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive Senate politics.

Van Hollen also declined to give Schumer credit for last week’s results, in which Democrats have picked up eight Senate seats so far.

“Our whole caucus pulled together to support candidates. I know many of my colleagues did,” he said. “I know I personally did. I respect the work of the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]. I chaired the DSCC at one time, but we should be very clear: This was a victory for the American people from the country to Washington.”

“This was not orchestrated by Washington, D.C., which is exactly what [Mississippi Sen.-elect] Scott Colom was saying today because he was hearing people in Washington take credit for his victory,” Van Hollen continued. “The reality is that Washington spent very little money — and very late — in his campaign. Take Annie Andrews in South Carolina: Washington came in very late.”

Van Hollen led the DSCC during the 2018 cycle, and Schumer’s camp was quick to push back. A source close to Schumer, who was granted anonymity to discuss thorny internal dynamics, said Van Hollen’s argument “doesn’t make sense” and gave MS NOW data showing that outside groups aligned with Schumer spent $553 million on 11 Senate races.

Democratic senators at the conference varied in how clear they were about their intentions. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan reiterated her opposition to Schumer and said that she and Van Hollen have “had good conversations.”

“I’ve been open that I’m not voting for Senator Schumer,” she continued. “I’ll have more to say about this next week. … But I’m glad to see there’s more people getting in the race.”

Sen. Andy Kim did not publicly take a side when MS NOW asked him Friday.

“What is most important right now is: What are we trying to do? What are our priorities?’” the New Jersey Democrat told MS NOW. “If you don’t have the right priorities, [it] doesn’t matter who your leadership is — you’re going to fail. And so I want to really have a sense of that, and I don’t want just one person to decide that for the Senate.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who previously announced that he would back Schumer, gave a diplomatic answer amid Friday’s back-and-forth. “We’re going to have a long conversation about what the caucus should look like and what other things are going to be [on] our agenda,” Gallego said. “No matter who is leader, we’re going to deliver on this agenda.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who spoke right after Van Hollen, declared, “I’m for Chris Van Hollen,” and the crowd made clear it wanted Schumer to step down. But senators rarely take direction from the House, and Senate leadership races usually turn on personal relationships, not outside pressure.

Jack Fitzpatrick, Hannah Marr, Will McDuffie, Mychael Schnell, Alex Tabet and Hunter Woodall contributed to this report.

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From MS Now.