The fury at eight Democratic-aligned senators who voted with Republicans to end the longest-ever government shutdown highlights the dramatic shift in the Democratic Party less than a year into President Donald Trump’s second term, as voters and lawmakers argue that the party needs to adopt more ruthless tactics to counter the president and claw its way back to power.
The fury at eight Democratic-aligned senators who voted with Republicans to end the longest-ever government shutdown highlights the dramatic shift in the Democratic Party less than a year into President Donald Trump’s second term, as voters and lawmakers argue that the party needs to adopt more ruthless tactics to counter the president and claw its way back to power.
The reaction to the two votes on Sunday and Monday, which provide a pathway for the government to reopen after more than 40 days, was fierce. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) called for Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) to be replaced, suggesting he was an ineffective leader even though Schumer opposed the government funding measure. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) blasted the eight senators and said House Democrats would not support a government funding bill that did not include the health care measures the party has demanded. Democratic advocacy groups, politically vulnerable lawmakers, potential 2028 presidential candidates and voters all followed suit, lambasting those in their party they saw as caving.
The desire for Democrats to hold firm despite the pain inflicted by the shutdown — even though the party’s prior posture was that shutdowns are self-destructive — was the latest sign that the party has decided it must adopt an altogether different playbook given Trump’s willingness to resort to unprecedented measures to consolidate and maintain power. Rather than try to uphold norms as the president shatters them, they have decided to fight Trump with tactics they previously disdained — and have excoriated those who have stood in the way, whether on redistricting or candidates with problematic pasts.
“Early on, there were not enough members of Congress who recognized the magnitude of the threat Donald Trump poses to our democracy and Constitution,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), who opposed the government funding deal. “That has changed.”
Van Hollen said there were a few senators in what he dubbed the “no business as usual caucus” at the beginning of Trump’s term, but it has since grown dramatically in response to energy from the party’s base.
“The lesson is there is power in unity and in members of Congress working in partnership with the grassroots community,” he said. “This is why so many people are feeling let down at this moment, because that unity was important.”
Beyond the shutdown, the party has also shifted course on redrawing congressional maps, retreating from past attempts to rely on independent commissions as Democrats fight a wave of Republican-led efforts to alter districts in conservative-led states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) led a successful campaign to redraw his state’s map and won voter approval in a special election last week, prompting Democrats in states such as Virginia, Illinois and Maryland to consider similar efforts.
On Monday, while traveling to a conference in Brazil, Newsom chided Democrats in the Senate who broke ranks on the shutdown, arguing that they foolishly “decided that we’re playing by the old set of rules” and had not adjusted to the new reality.
There have been other signs of Democrats’ new posture. Once quick to demand that their politicians step aside after scandal, Democrats have been standing by candidates who have had problematic past statements surface — with some early success. Jay Jones, whose violent text messages from years ago were leaked just weeks before Election Day, overcame the controversy to be elected as Virginia’s next attorney general, an office he hopes to use as a bulwark against the Trump administration.
Swing Left, a liberal group that was born out of Democratic anger at Trump’s 2016 election, decided to invest considerable money and time in Jones’s campaign after the emergence of the texts — in which he nonchalantly mused about shooting the former GOP speaker of the House of Delegates in the head. The decision-making process was brief, said Yasmin Radjy, the group’s executive director, even if Jones’s comments were “indefensible.”
“We just can’t play by the old playbook of receding to the background, even when candidates have the warts that candidates have. Winning power is about math, and we have to win majorities,” said Radjy. “We need to be more ruthlessly pragmatic than we ever have been, even when that’s maybe uncomfortable.”
Likewise, Graham Platner, a liberal oysterman and military veteran, has insisted he will still run for one of Maine’s two Senate seats despite only recently altering a tattoo on his chest resembling a Nazi symbol, and problematic Reddit posts from years ago in which he downplayed sexual assault in the military and described himself as a communist. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has maintained his support for Platner, arguing that there has been a growing opposition to “cancel culture” and a realization that people cannot be solely judged by comments or actions from years ago.
“Many Democrats understand now, after the presidential election, that simply defending the status quo is not good enough,” Sanders said in an interview. “The Democratic Party has been perceived to be weak, to not stand up and fight, so I think that is one of the changes that we are seeing.”
Kelli Musick of Portland, Maine, said she was drawn to Platner as soon as she saw his campaign launch video because he came across as authentic and renewed her sense of hope. Weeks later, she was upset when she learned about his tattoo and his social media posts. After listening to his apologies and explanations, she determined he had taken responsibility for his mistakes and grown as a person, said Musick, 32, a caseworker with the state health department.
Musick said she was outraged in 2017 by the sexual misconduct allegations that prompted Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) to quit the Senate. But the political stakes today are much higher, she said, noting that Trump has flirted with running for a third term despite the constitutional limit.
“We’re a far cry from the days of Dijon mustard and tan suits,” she said, referring to episodes from Barack Obama’s presidency in which he was mocked for his choice of condiment and attire. “So I think, yes, certainly we are more willing to let things slide than previously.”
This new posture is invigorating not only the Democratic base but also candidates who are running to change the party from within. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is running for Michigan’s open Senate seat, said she can feel a “renewed energy to reshape” a Democratic Party that has, at times, allowed Republicans to play by a separate set of rules.
“There is too much nostalgia for the way that things were, and the only way to get back to the way that things were is to treat this moment very differently,” McMorrow said. “You have to fight fire with fire, you have to make sure that Democrats hold power to make the changes that are going to be necessary.”
Neera Tanden, the head of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said Trump’s reelection marked an inflection point for the Democratic Party that made it “hard to say that some things are just unacceptable in politics these days.”
“That’s a big shift from, ‘When they go low, we go high.’ And it’s even a shift from 2020 because the ethos of President Biden was like, ‘I’m going to restore the soul of the nation,’” said Tanden, a former senior official under Biden. “The real problem is that if only one side is following the norms of decorum, then the other side is basically benefiting from the weakness of Democrats.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama, who originated the phrase “when they go low, we go high” during her speech to the Democratic National Convention in 2016, has even acknowledged that the dynamic has shifted.
“The true answer is, no,” she said on the “All The Smoke” podcast in August when asked if “we still have to go high.”
“Going high is about being strategic, and that is really my point,” Obama said.
There are few Democrats arguing that the party should be abiding by previous rules and norms. But those who do are quickly assailed as out of touch and complicit in what some have characterized as Trump’s slide into authoritarianism.
In Maryland, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has refused to advance any mid-cycle redistricting effort even as Democratic Gov. Wes Moore insists that Maryland will move ahead in drawing new maps. Ferguson has opposed the effort for a list of philosophical reasons and a core pragmatic one: He believes that state courts would ultimately overturn the map and potentially cost Democrats more seats than redistricting would gain.
He said the risk of losing power — at the cost of compromising good-governance values — will ultimately backfire, arguing that Democrats need to consider what the party will stand for in the long term.
“To the degree that it is within the laws and constitutions of the state, yes, we should be thinking of different tactics to win,” Ferguson said in an interview. “Where I do not think we should go is the lawlessness that we’ve seen. And I think this is a question for each individual elected official: Where is the line?”
Moore struck a different tone. “Maryland will not just sit on its hands while Donald Trump continues to pick and choose which states have fair maps and which states don’t when we know he’s just trying to rig the rules,” he said on a YouTube show last week.
When Ferguson wrote on X that last week’s elections showed “we don’t need to rig the system to win,” dozens of Democrats argued that should not be the takeaway.
“Get our victory in Virginia out of your mouth while you echo MAGA talking points,” Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) wrote on X. “Grow a pair and stand up to this President. This is just [embarrassing].”
Erin Cox contributed to this report.
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