Since the government shutdown began one week ago, Senate Republicans have repeatedly noted that only a handful of Democrats need to cross party lines and join them in pushing through a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government.
So far, not a single Democrat has changed positions, instead sticking with the party’s insistence that Republicans first negotiate to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies slated to expire at the end of the year.
Republicans, who control 53 votes in the Senate, would need eight senators from across the aisle to vote for their bill to extend funding through Nov. 21. Two Democrats, Senators Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, as well as Senator Angus King, the Maine independent aligned with the party, backed the G.O.P. plan in the hours before the shutdown deadline. But Republicans have made no further headway toward hitting the magic number.
With no formal bipartisan talks underway, senators have voted a half-dozen times, most recently on Wednesday, to block competing bills that would extend government funding.
The successive votes have underscored how dug in both parties are in their positions, and suggested that, contrary to Republicans’ initial expectations, Democrats who believe they have the upper hand in the shutdown fight are not fracturing — at least not yet.
Still, the longer the impasse drags on, the more intense the focus becomes on the handful of Democrats who could cut a deal to reopen the government.
They include moderates who regularly seek bipartisan deals, senators facing potentially tough re-election races, and those whose imminent retirements mean they are less sensitive to potential political blowback.
Here is a look at the Democratic senators to watch, and why they are regarded as top targets in any shutdown compromise.
Eyeing the exit
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is not running for re-election in 2026. A staunch believer in bipartisanship, she has expressed frustration that President Trump and Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, have not invited her and other Democrats to negotiate on health care and reopening the government.
“You can’t compromise, you can’t figure out what works, if people aren’t talking to each other,” said Ms. Shaheen, a former governor. She said she wanted to see a “commitment” from Republicans on a plan to extend the health insurance subsidies.
Senator Gary Peters of Michigan is also not seeking re-election. Like Ms. Shaheen, he often seeks bipartisan negotiations to resolve thorny issues. He was spotted on the Senate floor Monday evening gesticulating energetically during a long conversation with Mr. Thune. Mr. Peters declined to comment on that conversation.
Several Republicans have signaled a willingness to negotiate on the health care subsidies in exchange for reopening the government, arguing that the prospect of such a compromise could be enough to bring Democrats to their side.
“The more certainty we can provide prior, it’ll give the Democrats at least an off ramp to vote for” a funding extension, Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota, said on Wednesday.
Ms. Shaheen and Mr. Peters were among the Democrats who voted in March for a Republican-written funding extension that most in their party opposed. But so far, neither is budging. Both have said they would not cross party lines for a mere promise of action by Republicans.
“We want to see actually something concrete happening for people, ensuring that folks are not going to see large increases in their premiums and opt out of being insured,” Mr. Peters said.
On the ballot
Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia is one of the most vulnerable Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.
Three Republicans have jumped into the primary race to challenge Mr. Ossoff, who was narrowly elected in a runoff election in 2021. But since his victory, Georgia, a state that went for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, flipped back to Mr. Trump in 2024.
For Mr. Ossoff, the shutdown is a political quagmire.
With tens of thousands of Georgians employed by the federal government, his constituents are facing furloughs or delayed paychecks as the shutdown clock ticks up.
But the tribal nature of Georgia politics, with the state evenly split between Democratic and Republican voters, means that Mr. Ossoff could face heat from his political base if he crosses party lines to support a Republican bill to reopen the government.
Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a moderate who is also up for re-election next year, is often willing to reach across the aisle. But he has so far stressed that he would be unwilling to vote to reopen the government unless Republicans demonstrate a “change in direction” on health care policy.
He said he might be persuaded to vote with Republicans if they quickly brought up the bipartisan bill to fund the government’s federal health agencies.
“That would mean rejecting Trump’s devastating cuts to N.I.H. and C.D.C., and that would make me interested in moving forward,” he said, referring to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But to secure his vote, Mr. Coons added, Republicans would also have to draw up “a clear, identifiable forward path” on how to extend the health care subsidies. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, another centrist Democrat who will face voters next year, is also known for taking part in bipartisan gangs that cut deals on big issues.
But Mr. Warner, who has excoriated Mr. Trump for his threats against federal workers during the shutdown, does not appear in any mood to strike a bargain with Republicans.
“Stand up, speak out, push back,” Mr. Warner said on Wednesday in a video he posted on social media.
The moderates
Moderate Democrats from politically competitive states are always targets in a potential bipartisan deal. Several of them have expressed irritation that the White House had yet to make an effort to win their votes.
“The president said he’s willing to talk to us,” said Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada. “Nobody’s phone is ringing. They’re saying they’re talking to us. They haven’t reached out to us at all.”
Ms. Rosen has attracted attention since her fellow Nevadan, Ms. Cortez Masto, broke ranks last week to support Republicans’ plan to extend funding.
Senators from the same state sometimes take politically difficult votes together, in an effort to show a united front in the face of any blowback.
Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire is also a target, along with Ms. Shaheen. She, too, was among the Democrats who crossed party lines to support the March spending extension.
Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a freshman who has positioned herself as a moderate willing to work across the aisle, could likewise vote in tandem with Mr. Peters.
“When a negotiation starts, you figure out what your red lines are. But we’ve got to be in the same room,” she said. Health insurance was a “foundational issue” that prompted her to run for public office, Ms. Slotkin added, after her mother, who was uninsured, died from Stage 4 ovarian cancer.
Another moderate duo, Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, could cross party lines in unison. Both said they wanted to negotiate with Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans.
“We want to solve this problem,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Gallego said he would be willing to support a G.O.P. stopgap measure if Mr. Thune were to place a bill to extend the health care subsidies on the Senate floor the same day.
“But it has to be concurrently,” he said, adding: “We’re not going to just trust the words of people that have already gone back on their words a couple times.”
Robert Jimison contributed reporting.
Megan Mineiro is a Times congressional reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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