WASHINGTON _ The star of Washington's last shutdown is working to keep the government open this time.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, could still pay a political price for this weekend's drama on Capitol Hill, if voters blame the Republican-controlled Congress for failing to reach a deal on a bill to fund the government.
Republicans fear that a lack of enthusiasm from their base could put Cruz and other Texas Republicans in danger of losing their re-election campaigns this year if voters stay away from the polls because they see Congress as unwilling to help President Donald Trump's agenda.
"It's a mess. I don't want to see the government shut down. Why can't (Congress) come together?" said Bruce Jacobson, a Republican challenging Cruz in Texas' March 6 primary.
Jacobson has framed his campaign in large part as a stylistic challenge to Cruz, citing the senator's role in the 2013 shutdown as an example. Jacobson faces long odds against the well-funded incumbent.
"I found it to be unbecoming," Jacobson said of Cruz's leading, very public role in the 2013 effort, which aimed to defund the Affordable Care Act.
"When you use physical legislation to try to advance substantially unrelated policy ... you better have an exit plan," Jacobson said.
Congress' inaction shut down much of the federal government Saturday, as the Senate would not pass a House-approved bill to maintain funding through Feb. 16 and reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Five Senate Democrats supported limiting debate on the bill, while five Republicans, including Cruz's frequent conservative allies, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, voted against it. Sixty votes are needed in the Senate, and Republicans control 51.
Cruz, who has been on an image-repair mission since his failed 2016 presidential candidacy, sided with party leaders this time. Saturday, top Republican officials blamed Democrats for the impasse. Many Democrats objected that the bill did not protect recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program from deportation.
"Paychecks could cease. Services will be disrupted. All because of an unrelated immigration issue that won't get resolved if the government shuts down," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Cornyn and other Republican negotiators, worked late into the night Friday and again Saturday to find a solution that could attract enough Democratic support to pass the Senate.
Cruz made no public statement about the shutdown.
He's spent the past year working to prove he can be a team player in Republican-controlled Washington, including helping pass a tax bill in December.
That work has helped him avoid a major primary challenge. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry once threatened to recruit someone.
Cruz had nearly $5.7 million on hand at the end of September. Jacobson has not yet announced his first fundraising haul. He told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he'd spoken with both former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove and U.S. Chamber of Commerce' senior political strategist, Scott Reed, about his race.
Neither man has endorsed Jacobson or gotten involved in the primary. Reed confirmed that he spoke with Jacobson, but personally gave the maximum contribution to Cruz's Senate campaign in December. He noted that the chamber hasn't weighed in on the Texas Senate race.
Cruz, who won his first Senate race after an upset victory in the 2012 Republican primary, faces a bigger threat from a Democrat.
El Paso Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke has been aggressively traveling the state campaigning, and kept roughly even with Cruz's fundraising.
O'Rourke said Saturday that he canceled his flight to Texas to work toward a solution.
"There was another vote today to adjourn �� literally go home and let the government shut down without anyone here to do the work of keeping it going," O'Rourke said. "I voted against the shutdown today for the same reason I voted against the Ted Cruz shutdown in 2013. We should never allow our differences to stop us from serving those whom we represent."
Republicans say the race will be determined in large part by whether Republicans turn out to vote in November.
The Republican-controlled Congress failed to deliver a repeal of the Affordable Care Act last year, something party strategists ranked crucial to their turnout efforts in 2018.
Republicans in Washington have also failed to deliver on Trump's border security promises, which party grassroots in Texas ranks as a top issue.
"I'm more concerned about the right at this point," said Texas Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser. "I'm more concerned about conservatives who are either going to show up or not show up in 2018 �� because if (Republicans) lose the base, they're not going to win."
