“Once we win the majority, God willing, everything is on the table," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Schumer’s greatest weapon now is the power of his word.

What You Need To Know

  • Schumer threatens retaliation if Democrats retake Senate majority

  • Former aides say NY senator's strengths including messaging, legislative strategy

  • Schumer wants Republicans to wait until after presidential election to fill SCOTUS seat

The influential lawmaker from Brooklyn is threatening retaliation by Democrats if Republicans rush to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.

Former Schumer aides say he was made for this moment — one of the greatest tests of his political career.

“I think Chuck, better than anyone, has the ability to message and just hammer home the same concept over and over and over again," said Mike Morey, a former Schumer communications director who now is a partner at SKDKnickerbocker. "And I actually think Republicans in the Senate historically have seen Chuck as someone they can believe.”

Expanding the size of the Supreme Court and doing away with the filibuster are two measures Democrats could push through if they win a Senate majority.

Schumer is hoping that with that in mind, he can convince GOP colleagues — or at least their constituents — to oppose confirming a Supreme Court justice so close to the Nov. 3 presidential election.

“The question isn’t: Should you Republicans vote for this person? The question is: Should you vote for them now? And Chuck can make that case," said Stu Loeser, a former communications director to Schumer who founded Stu Loeser & Co. "And he can make that case in individual states.”

On Sunday in Brooklyn, Schumer teamed up with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to pressure Republicans, a face of establishment Democrats and a face of the progressive left presenting a united front.

On Monday in Washington, D.C., Schumer was talking with Democratic colleagues and noting on the Senate floor that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked President Obama’s Supreme Court appointee eight months before the 2016 election.

“Surely, they must abide by their own standard," Schumer said. "What’s fair is fair. What’s fair is fair. A senator’s word must count for something.”

Schumer’s office also highlighted President Trump’s remarks from past years, saying what he’d do with his judicial appointees: striking down the Affordable Care Act and potentially overturning Roe v. Wade.

“I’ve seen him up close, working the phones, getting the input, having the input modify the outcome," said Daniel Squadron, who co-authored a Schumer biographer and now is executive director of Future Now. “That’s why you’re seeing already that the focus is on the impact of what’s going to happen here — the impact for the risk of gutting healthcare, the impact for labor rights, for choice, for the environment.”