Less than a week after scoring significant victories in off-year elections, whatever hopes for Democratic gains in the 2026 midterms generated fell by the wayside as the long-simmering civil war in the party burst into the open and went viral.
“Democrats in Disarray” is more than a headline we’ve seen many times over the past year. The shutdown and eventual caving by the Democrats without gaining anything of significance for their 40-day temper tantrum has caused the radical left to erupt in rage against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the eight Senators who voted to reopen the government.
The election night celebrations a week ago only served to paper over the fundamental splits in the Democratic Party among Main Street Democrats, national Democrats, and the radicals on the coasts who dream of a nation run by a bunch of Zohran Mamdanis. Most of the defectors who will vote for the GOP package of amendments are Main Street Democrats like New Hampshire Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, who have broken with their party on several other occasions, as have both Nevada Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto.
Many of the defectors are retiring after their current term is up. Long-serving Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, voted to end the shutdown. Durbin’s vote exposes the Democrats’ handwringing and dire warnings of catastrophe as nothing more than empty blather. He refrained from criticizing his putative boss, Chuck Schumer, but noted that the Democrats gained nothing from their obstructionist tactics.
“This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce their shutdown’s hurt. Not only would it fully fund SNAP for the year ahead, but it would reverse the mass firings the Trump Administration ordered throughout the shutdown,” Durbin said.
It’s the Democratic Party radicals who are about to blow up the party and set off a full-blown war over the next party leader in the Senate. One of those radicals, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), called it a mistake.
“This bill doesn’t do anything to arrest the health care catastrophe, nor does it constrain in any meaningful way President Trump’s illegality,” the Connecticut senator said. “I think the voters were pretty clear on Tuesday night what they wanted Congress to do, and more specifically, what they wanted Democrats to do, and I am really saddened that we didn’t listen to them.”
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who had consistently voted for an end to the shutdown, was disgusted that the Democrats took this long to reopen the government.
John Fetterman
The only Democrat who tried to do what was right pic.twitter.com/QVcX1ClAbO
— TONY™ (@TONYxTWO) November 10, 2025
It wasn’t long before his own party went after him.
For Pennsylvania’s who need affordable healthcare, this is a betrayal. Fetterman had a chance to hold the line ,but chose to vote with Republicans. Now, our healthcare costs are at risk while he claims to have prevented “chaos”. We expected better.#GOPShutdown #HealthcareCrisis pic.twitter.com/97zUCKMw47
— Keystone Progress (@KPprogressforPA) November 11, 2025
Following Sunday’s vote, Murphy vowed to keep fighting.
“I understand my colleagues’ desire to fund the government,” Murphy posted on X. “What Trump has put people through these last few weeks is abhorrent. Of course I want to end the shutdown too. But not at any cost.”
DNC Chair Ken Martin also implicitly denounced the Democrats who struck the deal, calling it a “betrayal of the American people” — but he mainly cast blame on President Donald Trump and Republicans.
“As this vote moves to the House, I stand with Democratic leadership as they refuse to rubber stamp the full-scale Republican assault on Americans’ health care and I am proud of the majority of Senate Democrats who opposed this vote,” Martin said in a statement. “The voters will never forget the day Trump turned his back on them so he could focus on building his gilded ballroom.”
Idiotic political attacks on the ballroom are exactly why Democrats are in big trouble and destined to fight it out for much of the next year. Expect the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to capitalize on the infighting. They will primary as many Democrats as possible. Few of them will win, but they will force Democratic incumbents to spend money on fending off the radicals instead of preparing for the general election.
Main Street Democrats are going to run as far away from the national party as possible, hoping they won’t be tarred with their party’s craziness. Most of the Main Street Dems are in red or purple states, making their job even more difficult. The GOP will pick up most of its seats in 2026 from this swing group of Democrats.
The national Democrats want to sound like radicals but vote like Main Street Democrats. The radicals will put that strategy to the test by forcing many vulnerable national Democrats to run farther left than they might want. There will be “litmus tests” that the DSA will insist Democrats pass to get their support. It’s going to be a mess.
The radicals have been in nominal control of the Democratic Party since 2018, when “The Squad” was elected and members like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Chris Murphy gained power in the Senate.
The 2026 election and the intraparty leadership fights that will occur early the following year will determine the outcome of this civil war and the future of the Democratic Party.
The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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