The deal cut by some Senate Democrats to reopen government has refueled the party’s tussle over strategy and identity just days after sweeping election victories had raised hopes that the left’s disparate factions were pulling in the same direction hea.
The deal cut by some Senate Democrats to reopen government has refueled the party’s tussle over strategy and identity just days after sweeping election victories had raised hopes that the left’s disparate factions were pulling in the same direction heading into the 2026 midterms.
Democrats’ latest fault lines do not track perfectly along the familiar split between progressives and centrists. Instead, there’s renewed rancor over how aggressively to fight President Donald Trump and his compliant GOP majorities on Capitol Hill, with some progressives renewing their calls for Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer to step aside, even as he publicly opposes the latest deal.
The left flank is incensed that eight centrist senators — none of whom face reelection in 2026 — crafted a deal with Republicans that does not guarantee Democrats’ main demand to extend Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that will expire at the end of the year. They say the agreement means Schumer could not hold his caucus together.
Some moderates are frustrated, or at least caught on a political tightrope after more than a month of Democrats agreeing that the longest federal shutdown ever was the way, finally, to use their limited influence to achieve some policy and political wins in a Republican-dominated capital.
Party leaders including Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries continue blaming Republicans for the looming premium spikes and other shutdown ripples, but the standoff’s sudden end underscores the difficulty of maintaining Democrats’ fragile and fractious coalition.
“The Republicans have learned they could hurt our communities, they could hurt everyday people, including their own constituents, and Democrats will fold,” said Maurice Mitchell, who leads the progressive Working Families Party.
New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, who won by more than double Democrats’ 2024 margin in her state, said victories like hers showed voters “want leadership with a backbone” who “stay strong under pressure.”
Instead, she said, “The Senate is on the brink of caving.”
The Democrats who cut a deal counter that they had little choice — that Republicans weren’t budging, and the pressure of the prolonged shutdown had become untenable as the Trump administration withheld food assistance payments to low-income Americans and mandated flight delays at airports strained by a shortage of air traffic controllers.
