Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he’s not picking a favorite in the increasingly crowded Democratic presidential primary field — not even if it is his state’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, who is poised to announce a 2020 exploratory committee Tuesday night.
“I work very well and closely with Sen. Gillibrand,” Schumer said. “But I’m not mixing in the presidential political game right now.”
Schumer praised the growing field of candidates that now includes many women and several members of the Senate. But he has no favorite among the growing list of candidates.
“I have said to every candidate who has asked me, let a thousand flowers bloom,” Schumer said. “Let’s get a lot of people out there and see who the best candidate to beat Donald Trump is. I don’t know who that is right now.”
[Read more: 45 Democrats jostling to challenge Trump in 2020]
Gillibrand is slated to announce her plans to form a presidential exploratory committee Tuesday night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” according to CBS News.
Gillibrand was appointed to her Senate seat in 2009, after a brief stint in the House and after Hillary Clinton resigned from the Senate to serve as secretary of state in the Obama administration.
Other likely presidential candidates include Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
Warren has already convened an exploratory committee.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., are also poised to battle for the Democratic nomination.
