Good-luck Chuck just got a second chance.
Sen. Chuck Schumer was one of the most unpopular politicians in the state days ago – but now he’s poised for another leadership stint thanks to the blue wave midterm elections.
Schumer is likely to be chosen as the Senate majority leader next year after Democrats won back control of the upper chamber and the House of Representatives in a stunning rebuke of Trump.
The senior Empire State senator, who served as majority leader in 2021 while Joe Biden was president, said he intends to deliver big time for New York in the next session.
“Helping New York has always been my North Star. And now we have a real chance on delivering that help with the majority,” Schumer, the highest-ranking Jew in the US government, told The Post.
It’s a surprising turnaround for the longtime Brooklyn-bred politician, who’s been a favorite target of Republicans for years and has recently drawn the ire of frustrated liberals for not going scorched earth against the Trump administration.
Schumer’s popularity in New York plummeted to an all-time low, in large part because many fellow Democrats as well as independents soured on him and railed he wasn’t doing enough to challenge Trump and Republicans who held both chambers of Congress after the 2024 elections.
Only 32% of New York state voters had a favorable view of him last November, his lowest approval rating in 21 years of surveys conducted by Siena University.
In May of this year, only 33% of New York voters had a favorable view of Schumer, while 52% had an unfavorable view — including 40% of Democrats, Siena found.
He also had the lowest approval rating of all top US political leaders among Americans polled.
The Real Clear Politics average of all national surveys shows only 25% of Americans had a favorable view of Schumer, while 49% viewed him unfavorably.
Schumer, 75, is up for re-election in 2028 and emboldened leftists in the party openly talked about primarying him if he runs again, with democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez testing the waters for a run for president or Senate.
But Schumer’s stock has risen since last week as he and fellow New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the Senate Democratic Committee chairwoman, were credited for helping architect the party’s surge at the polls.
Dems won upwards of 55 seats in last week’s election, securing a solid majority and offering the first real check on the second Trump administration. The bounceback in Congress could also mean a bounceback in how voters view Schumer, insiders said.
“Being the majority leader turns things around. He’s got a lot of power,” said former Republican Sen. Al D’Amato, whom Schumer defeated a generation ago.
“If he’s an effective leader he will be able to run for re-election. Nobody will primary him. Chuck is a smart guy. He knows politics inside and out.”
New York State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said Schumer should take a bow because he deserves credit for helping recruit the candidates who flipped seats from red to blue and reclaimed the majority for Democrats.
Everyone likes a winner, he said.
“Nobody can argue with the results. You have to give Chuck Schumer credit. He deserves it,” Jacobs said.
“He did the impossible. He created a Democratic majority. New York voters will give him credit for that. The polls will reward him for that.”
Schumer has “earned the support” to seek and win re-election to a sixth term in the Senate, the party leader said.
Jacobs said he understood the frustration of some party members in the years since Trump returned to the Oval Office, but thought targeting Schumer was unfair and misplaced when the Democrats were in the minority.
“Opposing the president when you’re in the minority is a difficult task,” he said.
Another reason New Yorkers could see Schumer in a new light is that he will be in a position to deliver more funding for pet New York projects, including those backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Schumer’s election as Senate leader could mean an all-New York leadership structure in DC, sources noted.
Fellow Brooklynite Hakeem Jeffries is also likely to be elected by Democrats to be the first black speaker of the House of Representatives while native New Yorker Trump will continue for two years until the end of his second term.
“Chuck Schumer — whether you like him or love him: he is New York. If Zohran was smart, and maybe he is, he should lean into Schumer. He’s been every mayor’s best weapon. He delivers,” a New York Democratic party source said.
Still, Schumer has spent his entire adult life in politics and some voters may believe, despite his powerful perch, that it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of Democrats, critics noted.
Some newly elected Democrats and pundits said voters who fueled the blue wave in the midterm elections are seeking change and not a redo of previous leadership.
“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart called for mutiny within the party during a recent appearance on “The Weekly Show” podcast.
“You have an opportunity to actually govern. Do it. Take it,” Stewart said. “And one of the first things you need to do is remove that system of seniority from Democratic politics. It is a bulls—t system and it needs to go.
“They’re already like, ‘Chuck Schumer deserves a lot of credit for putting together this…’ Chuck Schumer deserves—Chuck Schumer fought tooth and nail against half of these f–king people!” he said of insurgent Dems.
“And even if he didn’t, he does not understand the urgency of the moment and what the future demands. I truly believe that.”
The Senator has been a mainstay in politics since shortly after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1974. He was elected to the state Assembly and in 1980 was elected to the House at the age of 29.
Schumer represented Brooklyn and Queen for 18 years as a member of Congress before he won election to Senate in 1998.
The Brooklynite defeated then-GOP incumbent D’Amato in a a hard-fought campaign and announced he would visit each of New York’s 62 counties every year to keep in touch with voters from every corner of the state.
He said he’s done so every year.
