Allies of defeated Demoratic presidential primary candidate Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren are pushing to elevate Sanders to a Senate leadership post.

New York Senator Charles Schumer, a liberal pragmatist, is expected to assume the post of party leader to succeed retiring Democratic leader Harry Reid.

His elevation will create a vacancy as head of the Democratic Policy and Communications Center, a war room successfully guided by Schumer to battle Republicans on the Senate floor and on the airwaves.

Allies want Sanders in the post, a recognition of Sanders' ability to give Hillary Clinton a tougher-than-expected race, where he won almost 1,900 delegates to Clinton's more than 2,800.

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Senator Bernie Sanders, who is promoting his book 'Our Revolution: a Future to Believe In,' is being pushed for a Senate leadership post, a recognition of the call for a new approach after Hillary Clinton's failure to capture the White House

Clinton's defeat by Donald Trump has renewed calls within the party to compete with a sharper-edged call for dramatic change, more distance from Wall Street, and a focus on combatting income inequality – even as the cracks in Clinton's victory plan appeared in Midwestern battlegrounds like Michigan and Pennsylvania, along with western Pennsylvania.

A few dozen protesters staged a sit-in outside Schumer's office calling on him to give way to Sanders or Warren, The Hill newspaper reported while describing the leadership turf.

Warren offered her own prescription on Monday at a meeting with liberal donors – with a surprising argument that Obamacare – a law now in danger of repeal by Republicans – was insufficiently bolt.

“But let’s be honest: It’s not bold. It’s not transformative,” she said, the Huffington Post reported.

She said the party would have been better off being more up-front about the law's shortcomings.

Bernie Sanders and wife Jane go for a walk in Central Park, New York City. The Senator left ABC Studios and decided to go for a walk with his wife

Senator Charles Schumer, who is set to take over as Senate Democratic leader, is under pressure to formalize the role of Sanders in the party

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“I’m OK taking half a loaf if our message was ‘Here’s half, now let’s go get the rest,’” Warren said.

Clinton did campaign on efforts to improve Obamacare, and her husband former President Clinton described the law as 'crazy' at one point on the campaign trail.

She also belittled the 2009 stimulus, which President Obama credits with pulling the U.S. economy out of the abyss. 'Can anybody name one thing in the stimulus?” she said.

“That’s where we failed, not in our messaging, but in our ideology,” Warren argued.

A test of what direction Democrats want will occur in the election of head of the Democratic National Committee. Rep. Keith Ellison, a member of the congressional black caucus who is a Muslim, is running for the post.

He has the endorsement of Schumer. Others interested include former DNC chair Howard Dean, who rolled out a '50-state strategy' in an effort to forge widespread appeal.

Giving a formal role to Sanders might give due to his 'revolution,' but it might shut out of leadership a female lawmaker. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan holds a lower-level vice chair spot, and Senator Patty Murray of Washington hold another conference post.