Democrats Implode After Shutdown, Setting Chuck Schumer on Fire

Frustration is boiling in Democratic ranks against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., after he walked away from the longest government shutdown on record empty-handed.

Some argue that Schumer squandered a key lever and failed to guide his caucus to victory through chaos.

“I think people did what they could to get us out of the shutdown, but what worked in the past isn’t working now,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan. “And so, we have to seize the moment, and we’re not.”

Slotkin, like other members of the Senate Democratic caucus, “wanted something concrete on the price of health care.” The crux of their shutdown strategy was to force Republicans and President Donald Trump to reach a deal on the expiration of the Obamacare subsidies, but that did not happen.

SENATE VOTE TO END GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN TRIGGERED DEMOCRATIC CIVIL WAR

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer after a news conference on the government shutdown, at the U.S. Capitol, November 5, 2025. (Tom Williams/Getty)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argued it would be difficult to get rid of Schumer.

“Chuck Schumer is part of the establishment,” Sanders told MSNBC. “You can argue, and I can argue, that Chuck Schumer has done a lot of bad things, but in getting rid of him, who’s going to replace him?”

Other Democrats were not so resigned.

Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate candidate to replace Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pinned the collapse of Senate Democrats’ unified front on leadership.

“The leadership of the Democratic Party has become completely irresponsible,” Platner said. in a video published by Our Revolution, a political action organization created as an offshoot of Sanders’ presidential campaign.

“What happened last night was a failure of leadership in the clearest terms,” he said after the Senate passed the bipartisan deal Monday, sending it to the House. “Senator Schumer is the minority leader. It’s his job to make sure his caucus votes in line with what will be good for the people of the United States. He couldn’t keep that up.”

Schumer and congressional Democrats emerged from the shutdown impasse in the Senate empty-handed, except for a few victories on ensuring that furloughed federal workers will receive their back pay, reversing layoffs made by the Trump administration during the shutdown and ensuring future worker protections.

Yet they are far from achieving their goal of extending the expiring grants, which are set to expire at the end of this year.

These grants, initially enacted as an emergency response to COVID-19 in 2021, were always intended to be temporary. But Democrats fear their sudden expiration could leave millions of policyholders with dramatically higher premiums overnight if the expiration is allowed.

But as pressure mounted — and with no sign of Republican hesitation over subsidies — eight Democrats voted to put the government on a path to reopening.

To some onlookers, Schumer had held the party line for as long as possible.

SENA DEMOCRATS EMERGE FROM RECORD SHUTDOWN AS PRESSURE INTENSIFIES

Sen. Bernie Sanders argued that getting rid of Schumer would be difficult. (Joe Maher/Getty Images)

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat of Nevada, one of eight Democrats who voted with Republicans to reopen the government, said she respected Schumer’s leadership.

“He did a good job,” Masto said. “He kept us informed and was open to our conversations.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, argued that the problem was not with Schumer, but with his colleagues.

“Senator Schumer did not want this to be the outcome, and I insisted that it did not end this way,” Murphy said. “He didn’t succeed, let’s not sugarcoat that. But the problem is the problem exists within the caucus. The caucus has to solve it.”

Republicans, however, spent much of the shutdown claiming that Schumer ordered the shutdown to appease his base — a base that had wanted to see some sort of resistance to Trump.

“This is how it would always end,” Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, said Monday evening. “Chuck Schumer has a political problem. He’s afraid of being elected on the left. That’s why the Democrats have inflicted this lockdown on the American people to prove to their radical left base that they hate Donald Trump.”

“I think a lot of Americans have suffered from this political blow,” Cruz added.

SCHUMER SHUTDOWN PATTERN EXPLAINED: DEMS DOUBLE IMPLEMENTATION OF OBAMACARE CREDITS AS DEADLEAD PROGRESS

Senator Ted Cruz speaks to reporters as he attends the weekly Senate policy lunches at the U.S. Capitol, December 6, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

On the other hand, many Democrats have made it clear that they believe Schumer has failed to mount effective resistance to Trump’s health care agenda.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten compiled polls dating back to 1985 comparing the popularity of Democratic leaders among Democratic voters. Schumer, he found, was the least popular of all.

“Chuck Schumer, his days are over. If he can’t hold his caucus together, he has to go,” Sunny Hostin, co-host of “The View,” told the audience Monday.

“Chuck Schumer has not reached this moment, and Senate Democrats would do well to move on from his leadership,” said Rep. Mike Levin, Democrat of California.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom summed up his thoughts in one word. post on X.

“Pathetic,” Newsom said.