Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders announced today that he will not support Sen. Chuck Schumer as the Democrat Leader next year.

Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday he will not support Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as leader of the Democratic caucus next year.

Sanders announced his decision at a news conference with Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) shortly after Democrats huddled in their first full caucus meeting since returning to Washington following sweeping midterm election victories.

Schumer this week has begun to face pockets of opposition within his ranks, and several outside advocacy groups have weighed in against his retaking the perch. But no other senator has officially entered the race against him.

Here's the video Sanders released this afternoon.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin said she wanted either a challenge to Schumer or a plan from him on what he would do next. Specifically, she wanted to see action on the affordability agenda.

Slotkin stopped short of ruling out support for Schumer but said she would withhold her vote until he or another candidate presented a concrete plan for governing.

“Whoever wants my vote is going to have to show me a concrete plan that’s definitively different,” Slotkin said. “I’m a no until and unless I see that from anyone.”

She also encouraged colleagues to consider withholding a quorum in the leadership election if only one candidate emerges and senators have not received sufficient assurances about the party’s direction.

It's true that she didn't absolutely refuse to support him, but she did say it is time for new leadership.

Schumer was asked about the challenges from two of his colleagues. "Senator Sanders just held a press conference where he said he cannot support you for leader. Senator Slotkin was with him…how do you respond to that?" a reporter asked. Here's Schumer's response.

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But Schumer is not popular among some of the newly elected progressives. Annie Andrews, Adam Hamilton, Troy Jackson and Abdul El-Sayed have all previously said they would not support Schumer as leader. So it is more than just Sanders and Slotkin.

Meanwhile, there's at least one Senator who is behind Schumer this afternoon. He can count on John Fetterman. I'm sure he's thrilled.

So where else is this opposition coming from? It seems to be coming from outside the chamber, from people like Jon Stewart. He's been saying Schumer should go since last week.

Other lefties are echoing that call.

It looks to me like all the people who've always hated Schumer are now jumping on this bandwagon hoping to push him out now so they can seize the moment. Here's Sanders making his case on Stewart's show.

Will it work? It probably won't but the progressives are always eager to seize more power by shouting about it. Speaking of which, there was some kind of anti-Schumer protest today. The protesters got themselves arrested.

This may not go anywhere but the vote to select the next leader won't happen until next month so the progressives have a little more time to try to rally people to their side.