Senate Democrats and minority leader Chuck Schumer sparked outrage from their constituents after caving on the 40-day government shutdown.
Thousands of flights were delayed, SNAP food benefits almost ran out and federal workers didn’t get a paycheck for nearly two months.
The shutdown – the longest in modern history – was meant to be a bold Democratic stand ahead of next year’s Midterms. Instead, it has erupted into open warfare inside the party and seen whispers in DC that Schumer secretly authorized its ending.
Democrats had hoped to seize the political narrative from Donald Trump by focusing on health care and living costs. Instead, insiders say the strategy has backfired — exposing deep rifts in their ranks and leaving the Senate minority leader fighting for his political life.
But what’s transpired is a war tearing their party apart – and insiders want Schumer to pay the price with the end of his leadership.
Democrats were jubilant after the 2025 elections last week, convinced that their hard stance against Trump had turned the political conversation toward healthcare and affordability.
They were horrified, however, after Senate Democrats caved to the president and reopened the government.
Schumer tried to convince the left that he would have continued the shutdown, but he could not control the moderates in his party who wanted to end it.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaves a Senate Democratic caucus meeting
A Senate source told the Daily Mail Schumer’s reaction to the Senate deal on Sunday was predictable political theatrics.
The group of senators who voted to end the shutdown, Angus King, Tim Kaine, Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen were all not up for reelection in 2026.
Although Schumer voted against the deal, his protest did little to convince left-wing activists who felt Democrats were finally gaining meaningful political ground against Donald Trump in their shutdown fight.
‘Schumer pretended to oppose it, but there’s no way that vote could have advanced without his blessing,’ a Senate aide told the Daily Mail, describing his strategy as ‘too cute by half’ by voting no to the agreement that sailed through the Senate.
Democrats in Washington, DC, however, feel like they emerged victorious despite the vicious backlash from left-wing activists in the party.
Shutdown politics have become normalized in Washington, DC, one strategist noted, because it works, even though it is risky.
‘Nobody looks good in a government shutdown, but Democrats did way better than I expected,’ one Democratic strategist told the Daily Mail, who said he was admittedly ‘nervous’ about the idea.
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Democrats successfully changed the political conversation from Trump’s focus on violent crime and lawlessness in major cities run by Democrats.
The Republican and White House response was both ‘horrendous’ and ‘cruel and stupid,’ especially on the issue of food stamps, the strategist said.
But the decision by Senate Democrats to cave to Republican demands endangered the Democratic Party in the 2026 midterms, he said, because ‘people don’t believe that we can see a fight to the end.’
Schumer’s leadership position in the senate is in jeopardy, one Washington political observer noted, who singled out Senator Chris Murphy’s earnest entreaties to the left-wing activists in the party as evidence he was anxious to be next up for a leadership position.
Few will weep if Schumer is sacrificed as the result of the deal, as more donors and Democratic elites have grown tired of his political theatrics.
But the extended shutdown was enough to energize the Democratic base in time for the elections.
‘It ginned up their base and got a lot of people to come out in these off-year elections,’ one longtime analyst of shutdown politics in Washington, DC revealed.
The reason for ending the shutdown, one strategist explained, was that it was no longer politically sustainable ahead of the holiday season, prompting Senate moderates to end it.
‘It turns out it had nothing to do with healthcare or food stamps,’ one Republican Capitol Hill veteran told the Daily Mail.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters during a meeting with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) talks with reporters before voting at the U.S. Capitol
‘The entire time it was their own constituents that were getting hurt the most, but it didn’t seem to matter until their Thanksgiving travel plans were threatened,’ he said.
The Democratic anger against Schumer and Democratic moderates was also useful for upcoming elections, especially in the 2026 midterms.
‘The anger at the leadership and the political establishment only helps generate more enthusiasm next year,’ one source told the Daily Mail.
Trump was to be commended, a former Trump official noted, for refusing to budge to Democrat demands, most significantly to call out Democrats over the weekend for enriching healthcare companies with billions of dollars of subsidies.
Republican members of Congress watched in horror as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene went on CNN to praise former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s control of her caucus and also grapple with the issue of health care premiums going up.
But now Republicans find themselves on defense, on issues of healthcare and the cost of living.
During the shutdown, Republican leaders instructed members of Congress to focus on the Democrats role in shutting down the government rather than a fight over healthcare.
Republican members of Congress watched in horror as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene went on CNN to praise former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s control of her caucus and also grapple with the issue of health care premiums going up.
They were comforted by Trump’s assertion on Monday in the Oval Office that Greene had ‘lost her way.’
Now that the government has been reopened, however, Republicans expect that conversation will change.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., expresses his frustration at a press conference
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol
Republicans now want Democrats to own the disastrous Affordable Care Act that utterly failed to reduce costs for consumers.
Trump teased a proposal to stop sending subsidies to insurance companies who promoted the increasing costs of the Affordable Care Act, and sending them directly to Americans facing the high cost of health care. Trump also proposed the idea of a $2,000 payment to Americans from tariff revenue.
Political analysts expect that populist rhetoric from Trump to continue. But Democrats feel renewed political momentum despite the ongoing civil war over their leadership and political tactics.
‘Say what you want about the Democratic establishment, but they do win a lot of elections, and they do win more than they should,’ the Democratic strategist said.
