US Senator Chris Van Hollen seeks to lead Democrats: Who is he?

Chris Van Hollen is a Democratic senator from Maryland who has been in Congress since 2003, rising to prominence for his opposition in the second term of US President Donald Trump and now seeking to lead Democrats in the Senate. Van Hollen was born in 1959 in Karachi, Pakistan.

His father was a Foreign Service officer who later served as the US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs. In April 2025, Van Hollen drew attention when he travelled to El Salvador to meet a Maryland resident mistakenly deported by Trump, in a case which ultimately saw Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the United States.

In September, Van Hollen forced a vote on a resolution that would have required the Trump administration to report on the killing of nine Americans in the occupied West Bank and on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children in military detention. In August 2025, Van Hollen accompanied US Senator Jeff Merkley to the Rafah crossing at Egypt’s border with Gaza as Israel resisted attempts to allow humanitarian aid delivery to Palestinians in the enclave.