Sunday, during an appearance on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), a candidate for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, would not commit to backing the reelection of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as leader of the Senate Democrats if elected.
Partial transcript as follows:
MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: Let’s talk a little bit more about your party, because when you look at the polling, Congressional Democrats really are incredibly unpopular with the American public.
Just 23 percent in a Quinnipiac poll of voters nationally, they have approved of your party in Congress. So I’m wondering if you win your race, do you think it would be time to oust Chuck Schumer as your party leader?
PAPPAS: Well, I do think it’s time for new voices, and I’m running to be part of a new generation to serve in the Senate, to represent my state. And I think leadership was incredibly flat-footed at the beginning of Trump 2, not meeting the moment and understanding the urgency and how much more dire it was than the first term of Trump.
So we’ll see who’s running, and I’ll make that decision after the election. I’m not measuring the drapes. We’ve got to win a tough fight here.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: But do you have confidence that —
PAPPAS: I don’t hear a lot about leadership from folks in New Hampshire, frankly. I hear about the issues that they’re concerned about in their own lives.
RAJU: But do you have confidence in Chuck Schumer as Democratic leader?
PAPPAS: Well, look, he’s got to make a decision about what his future is. What I’ve observed on the House side is that our caucus is united. We are more united than I’ve ever seen during my four terms in Congress.
And I think this is an opportunity for Democrats to remember where the big fight is. We’ve got to muster all the courage and all the fight to take on Trump, to stand up for what’s right and to fight to build a fairer economy and lower costs.
RAJU: Yes.
PAPPAS: We can do that if we take the majority back. And I think that would be a unifying moment for the Democratic caucus on both sides of the Capitol.
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