Van Hollen, mulling White House bid, says Democrats doing a bad job telling voters what they’re for
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is exploring a possible run for president in 2028, says that Democratic leaders have not done a good job explaining what the party is for and how it would improve Americans’ lives and focused too much on opposing President Trump.
“I chaired the DSCC once, I chaired the DCCC twice. Count me insane for being somebody who said yes on all those occasions,” Van Hollen quipped during an interview at Hill Nation Summit, discussing his experience leading the Senate and House Democratic campaign committees.
“I do think the Democratic Party needs to do more than tell people what we’re against. In my view we need to be fighting what I perceive as a completely lawless Trump administration but we also need to be telling people what we’ll do to shake up the status quo,” he said.
Van Hollen said he is actively exploring a presidential campaign in 2028 and noted that he was invited to visit Iowa and New Hampshire, traditionally two key presidential primary states.
“I don’t think the Democratic Party has done a good job of letting people know what we stand for. I think the conventional views of Left versus Right have become outdated. I really believe in this moment if you look at our economy that it is rigged in favor of very powerful special interests,” he said.
“It’s more top [versus] everybody else. I was asked to come to Iowa and speak at the steak fry last August and I was asked to come to New Hampshire so I’m very much in listening mode because I’ve been encouraged,” he said.
“But that’s not a good reason to run. The reason to run is that you want to change things for the better. That you love our country, which I do,” he added. “I am, as I said, kicking the tires because I do think this is a critical moment for our country.”
He said Democrats need to learn a lesson from Donald Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2024.
“The reason Donald Trump got elected was people were fed up with the status quo,” he said. “He has broken the status quo, in my view, in all the worst ways. But we need to take that sentiment, which I share, and break up the status quo so working Americans have a fair shake in this country and they just don’t have it right now.”
Van Hollen is a member of a group of progressive Senate Democrats who have split with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) in backing more progressive Democratic candidates in key Senate battlegrounds, such as Michigan and Minnesota.
Van Hollen has backed progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary and Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the Minnesota primary.
“There are some Democrats that think we should just go back to the pre-Trump status quo. Right? My view is that Trump’s election was a symptom of a deeper set of concerns within the American electorate and that Democrats better show people that they’re willing to shake things up,” he said Wednesday.
He cited the need to address the “affordability crisis” and “a broken tax system.”
“These candidates in the Democratic primaries are much more the shake-em-up candidates. They’re telling voters they agree the status quo is broken and it’s not enough just to be against Donald Trump. Democrats need to stand for working people and take on some of these special interests that are pouring tens of millions of dollars into these campaigns,” he said.
Van Hollen this week took a leading role in urging Democrats to block the annual defense authorization bill, delivering a fiery speech on the Senate floor Monday, expressing opposition to provisions in the bill mandating a new U.S.-Israel technology cooperative initiative and requiring the U.S. government to share intelligence with Israel.
He voiced his concerns at the Hill Nation Summit and called for a vote on an amendment to give senators a chance to speak on those two controversial provisions.
The Maryland senator also voiced his opposition to legislation to establish a sweeping regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, the Clarity Act, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he may bring to the Senate floor during the July work period.
“I hope it does not move forward in its current form. It has a number of big flaws from my perspective,” he said.
Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said one of his chief concerns is the lack of a conflict-of-interest ethics provision, noting that President Trump recently disclosed that he reaped approximately $1.4 billion in income from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures in 2025.
He also pointed to Trump’s establishment of a meme coin, which nearly 1 million investors bought and wound up losing $3.81 billion in wealth.
“We need a conflict-of-interest provision applying to the president and the members of Congress who are regulating the crypto market,” he said.
Van Hollen also argued that authors of the legislation “haven’t closed the loopholes that would allow this to be a big avenue for illicit finance” used by criminal networks, terrorist organizations and rogue states.
“What we don’t want to do is create a whole other market structure that would allow for regulatory arbitrage,” he said. “We don’t want to create a set of standards that doesn’t already exist within the financial regulatory community that essentially incentives people to park their money in crypto at consumers’ expense.
“I’ll be raising these concerns with my colleagues,” he said.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at The Hill ↗
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is exploring a possible run for president in 2028, says that Democratic leaders have not done a good job explaining what the party is for and…
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is exploring a possible run for president in 2028, says that Democratic leaders have not done a good job explaining what the party is for and how it would improve Americans’ lives and focused too much on opposing President Trump.
“I chaired the DSCC once, I chaired the DCCC twice. Count me insane for being somebody who said yes on all those occasions,” Van Hollen quipped during an interview at Hill Nation Summit, discussing his experience leading the Senate and House Democratic campaign committees.
“I do think the Democratic Party needs to do more than tell people what we’re against. In my view we need to be fighting what I perceive as a completely lawless Trump administration but we also need to be telling people what we’ll do to shake up the status quo,” he said.
Van Hollen said he is actively exploring a presidential campaign in 2028 and noted that he was invited to visit Iowa and New Hampshire, traditionally two key presidential primary states.
“I don’t think the Democratic Party has done a good job of letting people know what we stand for. I think the conventional views of Left versus Right have become outdated. I really believe in this moment if you look at our economy that it is rigged in favor of very powerful special interests,” he said.
“It’s more top [versus] everybody else. I was asked to come to Iowa and speak at the steak fry last August and I was asked to come to New Hampshire so I’m very much in listening mode because I’ve been encouraged,” he said.
“But that’s not a good reason to run. The reason to run is that you want to change things for the better. That you love our country, which I do,” he added. “I am, as I said, kicking the tires because I do think this is a critical moment for our country.”
He said Democrats need to learn a lesson from Donald Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2024.
“The reason Donald Trump got elected was people were fed up with the status quo,” he said. “He has broken the status quo, in my view, in all the worst ways. But we need to take that sentiment, which I share, and break up the status quo so working Americans have a fair shake in this country and they just don’t have it right now.”
Van Hollen is a member of a group of progressive Senate Democrats who have split with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) in backing more progressive Democratic candidates in key Senate battlegrounds, such as Michigan and Minnesota.
Van Hollen has backed progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary and Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the Minnesota primary.
“There are some Democrats that think we should just go back to the pre-Trump status quo. Right? My view is that Trump’s election was a symptom of a deeper set of concerns within the American electorate and that Democrats better show people that they’re willing to shake things up,” he said Wednesday.
He cited the need to address the “affordability crisis” and “a broken tax system.”
“These candidates in the Democratic primaries are much more the shake-em-up candidates. They’re telling voters they agree the status quo is broken and it’s not enough just to be against Donald Trump. Democrats need to stand for working people and take on some of these special interests that are pouring tens of millions of dollars into these campaigns,” he said.
Van Hollen this week took a leading role in urging Democrats to block the annual defense authorization bill, delivering a fiery speech on the Senate floor Monday, expressing opposition to provisions in the bill mandating a new U.S.-Israel technology cooperative initiative and requiring the U.S. government to share intelligence with Israel.
He voiced his concerns at the Hill Nation Summit and called for a vote on an amendment to give senators a chance to speak on those two controversial provisions.
The Maryland senator also voiced his opposition to legislation to establish a sweeping regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, the Clarity Act, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he may bring to the Senate floor during the July work period.
“I hope it does not move forward in its current form. It has a number of big flaws from my perspective,” he said.
Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said one of his chief concerns is the lack of a conflict-of-interest ethics provision, noting that President Trump recently disclosed that he reaped approximately $1.4 billion in income from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures in 2025.
He also pointed to Trump’s establishment of a meme coin, which nearly 1 million investors bought and wound up losing $3.81 billion in wealth.
“We need a conflict-of-interest provision applying to the president and the members of Congress who are regulating the crypto market,” he said.
Van Hollen also argued that authors of the legislation “haven’t closed the loopholes that would allow this to be a big avenue for illicit finance” used by criminal networks, terrorist organizations and rogue states.
“What we don’t want to do is create a whole other market structure that would allow for regulatory arbitrage,” he said. “We don’t want to create a set of standards that doesn’t already exist within the financial regulatory community that essentially incentives people to park their money in crypto at consumers’ expense.
“I’ll be raising these concerns with my colleagues,” he said.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at The Hill ↗
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is exploring a possible run for president in 2028, says that Democratic leaders have not done a good job explaining what the party is for and how it would improve Americans’ lives and focused too much on opposing President Trump.
“I chaired the DSCC once, I chaired the DCCC twice. Count me insane for being somebody who said yes on all those occasions,” Van Hollen quipped during an interview at Hill Nation Summit, discussing his experience leading the Senate and House Democratic campaign committees.
“I do think the Democratic Party needs to do more than tell people what we’re against. In my view we need to be fighting what I perceive as a completely lawless Trump administration but we also need to be telling people what we’ll do to shake up the status quo,” he said.
Van Hollen said he is actively exploring a presidential campaign in 2028 and noted that he was invited to visit Iowa and New Hampshire, traditionally two key presidential primary states.
“I don’t think the Democratic Party has done a good job of letting people know what we stand for. I think the conventional views of Left versus Right have become outdated. I really believe in this moment if you look at our economy that it is rigged in favor of very powerful special interests,” he said.
“It’s more top [versus] everybody else. I was asked to come to Iowa and speak at the steak fry last August and I was asked to come to New Hampshire so I’m very much in listening mode because I’ve been encouraged,” he said.
“But that’s not a good reason to run. The reason to run is that you want to change things for the better. That you love our country, which I do,” he added. “I am, as I said, kicking the tires because I do think this is a critical moment for our country.”
He said Democrats need to learn a lesson from Donald Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2024.
“The reason Donald Trump got elected was people were fed up with the status quo,” he said. “He has broken the status quo, in my view, in all the worst ways. But we need to take that sentiment, which I share, and break up the status quo so working Americans have a fair shake in this country and they just don’t have it right now.”
Van Hollen is a member of a group of progressive Senate Democrats who have split with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) in backing more progressive Democratic candidates in key Senate battlegrounds, such as Michigan and Minnesota.
Van Hollen has backed progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary and Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the Minnesota primary.
“There are some Democrats that think we should just go back to the pre-Trump status quo. Right? My view is that Trump’s election was a symptom of a deeper set of concerns within the American electorate and that Democrats better show people that they’re willing to shake things up,” he said Wednesday.
He cited the need to address the “affordability crisis” and “a broken tax system.”
“These candidates in the Democratic primaries are much more the shake-em-up candidates. They’re telling voters they agree the status quo is broken and it’s not enough just to be against Donald Trump. Democrats need to stand for working people and take on some of these special interests that are pouring tens of millions of dollars into these campaigns,” he said.
Van Hollen this week took a leading role in urging Democrats to block the annual defense authorization bill, delivering a fiery speech on the Senate floor Monday, expressing opposition to provisions in the bill mandating a new U.S.-Israel technology cooperative initiative and requiring the U.S. government to share intelligence with Israel.
He voiced his concerns at the Hill Nation Summit and called for a vote on an amendment to give senators a chance to speak on those two controversial provisions.
The Maryland senator also voiced his opposition to legislation to establish a sweeping regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, the Clarity Act, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he may bring to the Senate floor during the July work period.
“I hope it does not move forward in its current form. It has a number of big flaws from my perspective,” he said.
Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said one of his chief concerns is the lack of a conflict-of-interest ethics provision, noting that President Trump recently disclosed that he reaped approximately $1.4 billion in income from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures in 2025.
He also pointed to Trump’s establishment of a meme coin, which nearly 1 million investors bought and wound up losing $3.81 billion in wealth.
“We need a conflict-of-interest provision applying to the president and the members of Congress who are regulating the crypto market,” he said.
Van Hollen also argued that authors of the legislation “haven’t closed the loopholes that would allow this to be a big avenue for illicit finance” used by criminal networks, terrorist organizations and rogue states.
“What we don’t want to do is create a whole other market structure that would allow for regulatory arbitrage,” he said. “We don’t want to create a set of standards that doesn’t already exist within the financial regulatory community that essentially incentives people to park their money in crypto at consumers’ expense.
“I’ll be raising these concerns with my colleagues,” he said.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at The Hill ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is exploring a possible run for president in 2028, says that Democratic leaders have not done a good job explaining what the party is for and…