Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are both cautious, calm, compromise-minded leaders fantasizing about a serious, sensible Democratic-run Congress, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.

• But social media is a temptress no party leader has tamed. The seduction of attention, likes and followers invariably proves too strong for the savviest, most self-promotional politicians to resist.

Why it matters: That's the lesson of the Internet Era of American Politics — the algorithms always win.

💥 A few provocative members of Congress and online activists dominate the national conversation because they master the biggest social media platforms. That creates the impression that their views reflect a party, or a nation, when in reality they don't. And it shapes the party's image and agenda.

• Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), vice chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, told us: "Governing isn't about getting the most followers on X — it's about delivering actual results ... It's easy to scream and yell, and say no — it's much harder to figure out a way forward."

By the numbers:

• Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed had 1.6 million Instagram followers as of Sept. 13. Today: 7.6 million and rising. One clip of him pulled an estimated 50 million-plus views across X, Instagram and TikTok.
• Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats since 2017, sits at 466,000 Instagram followers. A man who hasn't been sworn in has roughly 15x the leader's audience.
• El-Sayed telegraphed this in July: "If you're Chuck Schumer, I'm pretty damn dangerous!" True.
• Jeffries has nearly 1 million followers on Instagram. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has 9.8 million on her personal account alone.

📱 Yes, President Trump remade the GOP. But social media sucked in countless others to try to copy him, pushing rhetoric or ideas few politicians would've touched in the past.

• You see this in the rise of celebrity politicians who do little legislating but lots of instigating.
• You see this in the explosion of not just Instagram, X and YouTube followers by politicians, but also in the many starting their own shows — unthinkable a decade ago. Several see themselves as content producers: California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas host podcasts while doing pretty important day jobs for big states. Trump started his own social media platform, Truth Social.
• You see this in the daily media feeding frenzy when someone, somewhere goes viral because they lit up social media with a meme or menacing post.

🪤 The trap is springing before Democrats have even been sworn in:

• Several incoming senators have publicly said they won't support Schumer as leader, calling for new blood and more fight. James Talarico of Texas has sidestepped the question for months.
• Petitions to replace Schumer passed 100,000 signatures a day after launch. At Crooked Con, the post-election summit hosted in Washington last weekend by the parent company of "Pod Save America," the crowd booed and jeered his name all day.
• The pressure worked: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who's thinking about a 2028 presidential run, announced last night on MS NOW he'll challenge Schumer for majority leader. (More in next item.)

Doug Sosnik, a top official in Bill Clinton's White House and closely followed analyst of Democratic politics, told us: "You would never know it from the internet or press coverage, but the fact is there are only 130,000 members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)."

• "It has taken a while, but I think that Democrats have finally figured out that X/Twitter is not the real world," Sosnik added. "The best proof point of Democrats' 'getting this' was our success across the entire country."

👀 What we're watching: The biggest siren song of the algorithm this next year will be impeaching Trump.

• Schumer and Jeffries have tried to set a disciplined path focused on affordability, not impeachment.
• Trump is prone to taking provocative actions that would juice talk of impeachment. A crowded presidential primary field will make the topic even more tempting — a massive distraction for the new Democratic majorities.

Reality check: Schumer only needs about 29 of his members to vote for him in a secret caucus vote. He'll likely win the room. But he's losing the feed, and the feed sets the narrative.

• Among the senators-elect who say they won't vote for Schumer are Adam Hamilton of Kansas and Troy Jackson of Maine. Running against your own leader is now a red state play, too.

🪖 Accountability creep: In December, Jeffries waved off a Hegseth impeachment push. On Sunday, he said he was a "hard yes." (House Republicans tanked the effort on Tuesday.) Bernie Sanders, the incoming HELP chair, says Democrats may go after RFK Jr. next, alongside aggressive investigations into Trump's staff and family.

• To be fair: Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky forced the vote, and Jeffries tied it to an Iran war he says has driven up prices. But removal would take two-thirds of the Senate, which Democrats don't have.

The bitter truth is there's little market for moderation or sanity or heads-down, excruciating policymaking. This wasn't always true: Pre-internet, politics wasn't minute-by-minute combat and most media played by similar rules and stuck to daily rhythms.

The bottom line: Democrats won the election on prices. They'll lose the majority on posts.

• Axios' Alex Thompson contributed reporting.

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced last night on MS NOW's "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" that he'll challenge Chuck Schumer for majority leader.

• Van Hollen — who, at 67, is nearly a decade younger than Schumer, who turns 76 later this month — was immediately endorsed by Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who said the American people want "bold leadership."

Why it matters: The attempt to oust Schumer underscores deep divisions plaguing Democrats, despite the party's midterm romp, Axios' Kathleen Hunter and Justin Green write.

📺 Van Hollen said his bid was "about answering the call of the American people. ... We saw a huge outburst of democracy on Election Day."

• Voters sent a message to "reject the status quo and to reject business as usual," he added.

Van Hollen acknowledged he's the "underdog." But he told Psaki he has "more than 10" senators on his side.

• At least six senators-elect — El-Sayed, Adam Hamilton (Kan.), Juliana Stratton (Ill.), Peggy Flanagan (Minn.), Troy Jackson (Maine) and Annie Andrews (S.C.) — have said they won't support Schumer for leader.

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With rival chips getting better and recent software breakthroughs, the tech ecosystem has achieved what would've seemed impossible a year ago: a viable path around Nvidia, Axios' Ina Fried and Bradley Olson report.

• But replacing a CEO willing to bankroll startups, backstop billions in cloud debt and aggressively fund rivals to the AI giants will be much harder.

The next chapter without Jensen Huang will be more cautious, but the industry is capable of absorbing the change, for two key reasons:

1. 🦾 New chips: The progress of custom chips from Google, Amazon, Microsoft and OpenAI, as well as new deals with Broadcom and Nvidia rival AMD, means customers have options.
2. 🏛️ Washington: China hawks are ascendant in D.C. — and the departure of Huang, an advocate for keeping AI chip sales to China open, could accelerate a crackdown on controls that was already underway. Cutting off those routes could help protect America's lead and offer a major pre-IPO boost to Anthropic and OpenAI.

Two reasons a weakened Nvidia could roil the industry:

1. 💰 Finance: The company's checkbook will be far more difficult to replicate than its computing power. Nvidia has made $530 billion of off-balance-sheet commitments and guarantees, according to data firm SemiAnalysis.
2. 👀 Open models: Huang has been the most enthusiastic funder and champion of the Western open-model ecosystem — giving developers cheaper alternatives to the expensive offerings from frontier AI companies.

Read on.

Nvidia has begun searching for a permanent replacement for longtime CEO Jensen Huang, who resigned yesterday amid scrutiny over reports of multiple extramarital affairs, Axios' Herb Scribner writes.

• Why it matters: Nvidia's next leader will inherit one of the world's most valuable companies — and the daunting task of succeeding the pioneer who transformed it into an AI powerhouse.

Some names that have surfaced in reporting and speculation:

• Colette Kress, the new interim CEO of Nvidia, could stay on permanently. Analysts and investors view her as a leading contender because of her financial expertise. (Reuters)
• Tim Cook's name entered the chat yesterday after President Trump suggested the former Apple CEO on Truth Social: "A Legend replaces a Legend!"
• Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer. (Bloomberg)
• Jensen's daughter Madison Huang "had been seen as a potential successor before the scandal erupted," the Financial Times reports.

Seven more to watch.

Some of Senate Democrats' most surprising allies in the next Congress could hail from the right wing of the Republican Party, Axios' Stef Kight reports.

• Why it matters: Democrats are on track to need only four GOP votes to break filibusters next Congress. They could find those votes from a bloc of GOP senators with a shared appetite for taking on corporate power.

👀 Enter Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).

• Each has already worked with Democrats, and their votes could put legislation over the top.

Zoom in: Hawley has co-led multiple pieces of legislation with progressive star Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) this Congress.

• He's been scathing in his post-election critiques, telling reporters this week: "This Congress did not come and work for the people. This Congress came and worked for AI companies, and it worked for data centers, and it worked for big tech companies."

Keep reading.

It took just minutes for a gunman to shoot five people and upend one of D.C.'s busiest neighborhoods yesterday morning, Axios D.C.'s Anna Spiegel writes.

• What we know: Interim police chief Jeffery W. Carroll identified the suspect as 55-year-old Matt Wade Lambert, an emergency room doctor who lived in the apartment building connected to VIDA Fitness. The man killed was 46-year-old James Stuart, the building's manager and a Northwest D.C. resident, Carroll said.

Police believe the shooting was linked to an ongoing dispute between Lambert and his condominium association. Lambert had been fighting the association over alleged leaks and mold, per court records. He filed a lawsuit against the group in March 2025.

• Months later, he told now-Washington Sun reporter Michael Brice-Saddler that he'd spent nearly $200,000 on legal and engineering fees. In those interviews, Lambert said he knew Stuart's daily gym routine.

Read on.

The cheapest burger meal in America can be found in Laredo, Texas, at $12.75. The most expensive is in Anchorage, Alaska, at $27.88, Axios' Jim Sergent writes.

• Of the 100 cities in DoorDash's cheeseburger index, California has seven of the 10 most expensive. Texas has four of the cheapest.

Read on.

DVD sales and rentals are on the rise after a yearslong decline as more people — especially younger cinephiles — rebuild their physical media libraries, Axios San Antonio's Megan Stringer reports.

• Case in point: Adult DVD rentals from the San Antonio Public Library have surged 39% since 2022. DVD sales jumped 20% at Half Price Books' San Antonio locations in the most recent fiscal year.

"It's the hunt, the find, sharing it — it's all part of the process," says Matt Dalton of Half Price Books.

• "There's a younger generation shopping our stores, and I can see them get excited when they're flipping through the bins or going through the aisles and finding that thing and holding it up. It's pretty exciting."

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