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In March, 10 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus backed a procedural motion to advance a stopgap funding bill and avert a government shutdown. Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, in particular, faced significant backlash from his party’s progressive wing and drew talk of a future primary challenge.
When the Senate took up procedural votes again this week on a House-passed bill to extend funding for government agencies, just three of those 10 senators — Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto and Maine’s Angus King — joined Republicans, plunging the federal government into its current predicament.
This change underscores the political shifts that have hit Democrats this year. Their voters are increasingly demanding that Democrats fight back against the Trump administration. And at the same time, many of the senators who in previous years may have been part of so-called gangs trying to resolve a shutdown are no longer on Capitol Hill.
“This is a very different moment than March,” Connecticut Democrat Christopher S. Murphy told reporters. “I acknowledge that the call in March was tough for a lot of my colleagues. This one shouldn’t be as hard.”
Still, cross-party negotiations on trying to find a way out of the shutdown are happening. A few Democrats who voted to keep the government open in March were part of informal bipartisan talks on the Senate floor Wednesday. They included Michigan’s Gary Peters and New Hampshire Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen. Peters and Shaheen are both retiring at the end of next year.
On the GOP side, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who had been one of the most vulnerable senators facing reelection in 2026 before he decided to retire, said many Republicans agree with their leaders that negotiations on the enhanced health care subsidies at the center of the shutdown fight should follow once the government is reopened.
Asked Wednesday how long he thought the shutdown would last, Tillis said, “As long as it takes for the Democrats to agree to fund the government at levels they’ve agreed to before so people like me can start negotiating ACA subsidies and everything else.”
For the latest developments, follow our coverage on RollCall.com. Mary Ellen will be on the Political Theater podcast this week to talk about how Capitol Hill is responding to the shutdown.
Starting gate
Blame game: The shutdown has prompted a messaging fight between the parties, who each argue that the other side is at fault for the lapse in government funding. Campaign groups on both sides of the aisle have run ads hitting their top targets in next year’s elections.
#TN07: The primaries for the special election to complete the term of former Rep. Mark E. Green in Tennessee’s 7th District are set for Tuesday and have drawn a crowded field of House hopefuls. Four leading candidates are fighting for the Republican nomination in the race for the red-leaning district, which has also seen significant outside spending. Four Democrats are competing to advance to the December general election.
Comeback kid: Former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who in a single term in the House drew plenty of headlines, is seeking a return to the House — from Florida. The Republican launched a campaign for the 19th District, currently held by gubernatorial hopeful Byron Donalds, joining a crowded primary field.
Another one for guv: Arizona Rep. David Schweikert is running for governor, opening up a battleground House seat in the Phoenix suburbs. Schweikert joins a Republican primary that already includes two candidates supported by Trump: fellow Rep. Andy Biggs and Karrin Taylor Robson, a former member of the state Board of Regents.
Redistricted: Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the state’s new congressional map into law, our colleague Michael Macagnone reports. The new map splits the Kansas City-area seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II. Voters have already challenged the map in state court, while an advocacy organization is gathering signatures in an effort to override the new map.
New on the Hill: Virginia Rep. James R. Walkinshaw talked to Roll Call’s Jackie Wang about returning to Capitol Hill as a member after he previously served as chief of staff to his predecessor, the late Democratic Rep. Gerald E. Connolly.
RIP: British primatologist Jane Goodall, best known for her pioneering research on chimpanzees, died Wednesday at age 91 while on a speaking tour in California. The late conservationist made occasional trips to Washington, and Roll Call dug into our archives for a few photos from those appearances.
ICYMI
Family matters: Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, the brother of GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz, has launched a campaign for Texas’ 35th District, which state Republicans recently redrew as a red-leaning seat outside San Antonio. Democratic incumbent Greg Casar is running for the deep-blue Austin-based 37th District.
Midwest battleground update: Minnesota state Rep. Kaela Berg has joined the growing Democratic primary in the 2nd District to succeed fellow Democrat Angie Craig, who’s running for Senate. Meanwhile, Craig’s 2024 Republican opponent, Joe Teirab, tells MPR News he’s not running for the open seat. In neighboring Wisconsin, former Eau Claire City Council Member Laura Benjamin has dropped her challenge to Republican Derrick Van Orden in the 3rd District, leaving businesswoman Rebecca Cooke and Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge in the Democratic primary.
Primary challenges: Hawaii state Rep. Della Au Belatti last week became the second state legislator to launch a primary challenge against Democratic Rep. Ed Case in the 1st District. And in Virginia, Michael Duffin, a fired federal worker, announced he’s challenging Democratic incumbent Donald S. Beyer Jr. in the 8th District in the D.C. suburbs.
#PA03: Retiring Pennsylvania Rep. Dwight Evans has endorsed surgeon Ala Stanford in the crowded Democratic primary to succeed him in the 3rd District. Stanford, who came to prominence for helping with Philadelphia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, announced her campaign for the seat Wednesday.
They’re thinking of running: ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum says he’s weighing leaving the network to run for the open Senate seat in Alabama. Republican incumbent Tommy Tuberville, who is seeking the governorship, said the college football analyst would be a “force in the race” if he chose to run. In Missouri, former Rep. Cori Bush, a onetime member of the progressive House “squad,” appears poised to make a comeback bid for the House seat she lost to fellow Democrat Wesley Bell in a hard-fought primary last year.
Redistricting latest: The legal fight over Texas’ new GOP-drawn congressional map began Wednesday in federal court in El Paso. In Ohio, state lawmakers missed a deadline this week to pass a new congressional map, kicking the process to the state’s GOP-controlled Redistricting Commission, which has until the end of the month to approve new lines. The Utah Legislature is set to meet Monday to approve new congressional boundaries, and state Republicans are encouraging voters to reach out during the public comment period in support of a map they view as most favorable to their party. In Kansas, state Republican leaders have distributed petitions to call for a special session for mid-decade redistricting and work around Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. And North Carolina is the latest state to wade into the redistricting fights, with the Republican state Senate leader acknowledging that he’d be open to another redraw of the state’s congressional map, which already significantly favors his party.
Guv roundup: Former Illinois state Sen. Darren Bailey is seeking a rematch against Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker next year, joining the race for the Republican nomination last week. Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, the first Muslim woman to serve in the state House, joined the crowded Democratic primary to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. In Wisconsin, Democrat Missy Hughes, the state’s former top economic development official and a onetime executive at Organic Valley, is running for governor of the battleground state, where Democratic incumbent Tom Evers is retiring. On the GOP side, businessman Bill Berrien dropped out of the primary last week amid fallout from his social media history. In Oklahoma, Chip Keating, the son of former Gov. Frank Keating, has entered the growing Republican primary to succeed term-limited Gov. Kevin Stitt, in whose administration he previously served. In Massachusetts, Army veteran and businessman Mike Minogue is the latest Republican to challenge Democratic Gov. Maura Healey. And in California, Democrat Toni Atkins, the former leader of the state Assembly and Senate, exited the busy race for the state’s open governorship.
Nathan’s notes
Even with Schweikert running for governor, Arizona’s 1st District remains a fundamentally competitive seat, Roll Call elections analyst Nathan L. Gonzales writes. But his departure adds more uncertainty to the contest, and Inside Elections is changing its race rating from Tilt Republican to Toss-up.
What we’re reading
The fate of democracy: Democrats have long asserted that democracy is at risk in the Trump era, but now the GOP is taking a page from that playbook as it fights the latest redistricting effort in California, The New York Times reports.
Where’s Earle-Sears? An opinion piece in The Cardinal News looked at Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ daily schedule and found that the Republican gubernatorial nominee has had few public events and has avoided many of the campaign stops that Virginia politicians typically make.
Wary in the Garden State: A loosening grip on labor and rising concerns among Black leaders are warning signs for Democrats in New Jersey, The Associated Press found. The party is working to downplay expectations in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, which features Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli.
Age-old questions: The generational divide marking Democratic politics is finding echoes among younger Black voters, who are questioning whether the Congressional Black Caucus still has what it takes to lead on important civil rights issues. Capital B spoke with veteran members of the caucus as well as a new generation of Black leaders pressing for change.
Marrow bones and chicken biryani: With a fondness for lamb tartare and Carolina Gold risotto, Trump’s MAGA allies are remaking the D.C. restaurant scene, and New York Magazine provides a guide to all the hottest spots. Meanwhile, up in New York City, the Times looks at how Zohran Mamdani has made food a key part of his campaign for mayor: He’s used Bengali sweets to explain ranked choice voting and eaten a burrito on the Q train in a quest to portray himself as “a relatable everyman.”
Primary politics: Axios looks at Leaders We Deserve, the group co-founded by former DNC vice chair David Hogg that vowed to spend $20 million in support of younger Democratic candidates, including primary challengers. But the group has struggled with that mission, the news outlet reports.
The count: 25 percent
That’s the share of Americans who approve of the job Democrats in Congress are doing, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist survey.
While the same poll found that Democrats would shoulder less of the blame for the government shutdown than Republicans, the minority-party lawmakers stand on precarious footing, with 62 percent of respondents (including 42 percent of those identifying as Democrats) disapproving of them. That meant congressional Democrats entered the shutdown a net 37 points underwater.
Meanwhile, 35 percent of Americans approved of the job performance of congressional Republicans, while 55 percent disapproved. That put them 20 points under with the public, nearly twice as strong as Democrats’ position.
Trump, too, received bad marks in the poll that would nonetheless be enviable for congressional Democrats. He posted a 41 percent job approval rating, while 53 percent disapproved, good enough for the best net approval among the three sides at -12 points.
— By Roll Call’s Ryan Kelly
Coming up
The government shutdown has put a freeze on a variety of federal operations, but elections aren’t one of them. Voters in Tennessee’s 7th District will pick their nominees Tuesday in the special election to succeed former Rep. Mark E. Green.
Photo finish
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The post At the Races: Who ends the shutdown? appeared first on Roll Call.
