CIVIL WAR: Chuck Schumer’s decision to back the Republicans’ spending bill is planting the seeds of a Democratic Civil War with New York at its heart.

The Senate minority leader’s flip-flop decision Thursday to vote with the GOP to advance a stopgap government funding measure — after nearly all House Democrats voted against it — sent waves of fury through the party.

And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow New Yorker, is leading the charge against Schumer, calling his choice a “betrayal” and “huge slap in the face.”

Now some Democrats are not so subtly calling on the Queens and Bronx socialist to challenge the Brooklyn leader for his Senate seat — a prospect Ocasio-Cortez did not rule out (but also did not entertain) when asked on CNN.

“We’re finally seeing the kind of momentum within the House and the Senate to be like — ‘Wait a second, maybe the system’s not right, maybe we actually do need new leaders,’” Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff who is running to unseat Rep. Nancy Pelosi, told Playbook. “The moment’s really ripe for people all across the country to be running to replace large parts of the ‘do nothing’ wing of the party.”

Today, Pelosi indirectly criticized Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to throw him a lifeline and President Donald Trump praised him.

Meanwhile, some establishment Democrats are dismissing AOC’s grand show of defiance.

“Personal ambition at this time is not what we need,” state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs — who is resolutely supporting Schumer’s “yes” vote — told Playbook.

“If it was an irrational decision, if it strategically didn’t make any sense, I can understand there being dissent,” he added of Schumer’s plans to vote with Republicans. “Though I’d prefer it to be behind closed doors rather than out front.”

The backlash has been less about lefties versus mainstream and more about the powerful versus the populists.

“In terms of the energy and urgency out in the world, you’re seeing not just a segment of the progressive wing of the party, but a broad swath of Democrats — moderates, folks out on the streets who are perhaps unaligned,” said Seth Gladstone, who helped to organize this morning’s protest outside Schumer’s Manhattan office.

Demonstrations also cropped up in his home borough of Brooklyn and his Washington office, where several Sunrise Movement members were arrested.

“This is hand-to-hand combat with an authoritarian regime, and we can’t play dead,” Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, told Playbook. “This is a Tea Party moment. It’s a moment to call it what it is. We need a party that will not concede to the demands of the billionaires.”

It may be much harder to unseat Schumer — who’s been in elected office for 50 years — than Ocasio-Cortez’s champions realize.

“The idea that a statewide official in New York is vulnerable because he didn’t play poker with someone else’s Social Security checks is wrong,” veteran Democratic strategist and former Schumer aide Stu Loeser told Playbook. “I would not underestimate Chuck Schumer’s ability to communicate and make that point clear.”

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman told Playbook the entire New York House is “aligned,” and they all oppose Schumer’s move to vote for the continuing resolution on the Republican spending plan. But he wasn’t viewing it as a “kingdom come” moment for Democrats.

GOV AND THE PREZ: Trump and Gov. Kathy Hochul talked infrastructure, tariffs and congestion pricing this morning at the White House.

Her office gave a broad readout of the meeting, which included discussions of those hot topics; the White House declined to comment.

“While no formal agreements or decisions were reached, it was a productive conversation and we look forward to continuing the dialogue in the coming weeks,” Hochul spokesperson Jerrel Harvey said.

The sit-down was the Democratic governor’s second meeting with the Republican president, a New York native whose presence has loomed large this year in the deep blue state.

CHASING AFTER CUOMO: Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer toured reporters around Midtown Manhattan in a van this afternoon to show off “the city’s most infamous Cuomo lowlights.”

Playbook dropped by Billionaires Row, where the former city comptroller slammed Andrew Cuomo, for not doing enough in his 11 years as governor.

“What we have in New York right now is housing for the very rich, the very wealthy, and enclaves for the very poor,” Stringer said. “But we have never had a plan in recent history that talks about truly upending the housing crisis and building the affordable housing that we need. Andrew Cuomo couldn’t do it, didn’t tackle it, didn’t focus on it.”

Stringer said Cuomo’s 421-a tax break for affordable housing was “certainly worthwhile” but “it’s not enough,” and he’d focus on building new housing on publicly-owned lots.

“There is serious work to be done,” Cuomo spokesperson Jason Elan responded. “He’ll leave silly publicity stunts to the less serious people in the race.”

Read about Stringer’s housing plan here and Cuomo’s here.

Cuomo had led every poll ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary, making him a target in the crowded field. Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani criticized Cuomo for not taking a strong enough stance against the Trump administration arresting pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, and Brad Lander and Zellnor Myrie have repeatedly blasted his record as governor.

INDEPENDENT THINKING: Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber wants to better insulate the investigatory body from the whims of City Hall — a topic that’s also top of mind for Hochul and the City Council.

“As you know, the importance of ethical oversight of city government has been front and center over the past few weeks,” Strauber said during a budget hearing hosted by the council’s Committee on Oversight and Investigations. “We agree that safeguarding DOI’s independence and protecting the agency from retaliation is a worthy goal.”

To that end, Strauber suggested five- to seven-year terms for each DOI commissioner — who is appointed by the mayor with advice and consent from the council — so their tenure spans administrations.

She floated the idea of limiting how a mayor can fire a DOI commissioner. Under Strauber’s proposal, the mayor could only terminate the DOI head for cause and would need to get permission from the council.

And she made the case for budget independence. While she specified DOI has not been retaliated against during her tenure, the agency has nevertheless felt the toll of budget cuts.

“As you are well aware, the city’s budgetary challenges have significantly impacted DOI’s ability to hire and to retain employees,” she said.

The agency has been involved in numerous high-profile probes of the Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, including the mayor’s five-count federal bribery case. Strauber even spoke at the federal prosecutors’ press conference announcing the charges last fall.

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you.Read it here.