General Discussion

in terms of blame as the shutdown went on.

The vast majority of elected Dems at multiple levels (and from a wide range of ideological backgrounds) opposed the cave in. It ceertainly was not a centrist/moderate v progressive delineated battle.

Other than the 8 cavers and then Spanberger, almost every major Dem centrist/moderate voted No and/or has ripped the deal, as have, of course, the further left in our Party.

This includes most every 2026 Senate candidate (centrist/moderates included) who are not in the current Senate.

There is no deep and wide divide within our Party over the cave-in. The Party is mostly united in its disapproval of the cave-in from what I have seen, at least as far as all the other Senators, the Dem Governors (especially Newsom and Pritzker), most major US Senate 2026 candidates, and most US House members, including Jeffries.

A sampling of those who have condemened the cave-in and/or voted No, starting with moderates/centrists:

Roy Cooper, the odds-on favourite to win the 2026 NC Senate race, condemened the deal.

Janet Mills, the current favourite for US Senate from Maine, panned the deal.

NJ Governor-elect (and another US House Problem Solver) Mikie Sherrill denounced the deal as “malpractice.”

Haley Stevens (a Problem Solver like Slotkin was) who is the current leader in the 2026 MI US Senate race, has ripped the deal.

Slotkin and Gary Peters, the current MI US Senators both voted No and Slotkin criticised the deal.

Mark Warner, also from VA like the caver Kaine, voted No. All 6 of the US Senators except for Kaine, from the 3 biggest US States in terms of government employees (CA, VA, and MD) voted No. Both governors from MD and CA (Newsom and Wes Moore) were against the deal, unlike Spanberger.

Colin Allred of TX, running again for US Senate, called the deal a 'joke'.

Moderates Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of AZ voted No. Gallego criticised the deal on X, Kelly on MSNBC today.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (granted not a centrist), running for the MN US Senate slot, said in a video, “we deserve so much more than this bullshit”

“If people believe this is a ‘deal,’ I have a bridge to sell you,” said Flanagan’s rival, Representative Angie Craig (another House Problem Solver) adding that she’s a “no” when the measure comes up for a vote in the House. “I’m not going to put 24 million Americans at risk of losing their health care.”

Hickenlooper of CO voted No, and criticised the deal as did his fellow CO moderate Senator, Michael Bennet.

Jon Ossoff, perhaps the Dem Senator most at risk in 2026, voted No, as did his fellow GA US Senator Raphael Warnock, and criticised the deal.

The moderate Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) voted No.

The moderate (and also an ex House Problem Solver) Peter Welch (VT) voted No.

Moderate Amy Klobuchar of MN voted No.

As for non-centrists, here are some samples:

The Democrats vying to replace caver Durbin in IL: Juliana Stratton (Pritzker's pick), who’s previously called for new Senate leadership, cast Democrats’ cave as “a complete betrayal of the American people.” Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly both slammed the deal.

Texas state Rep. James Talarico, running for the US Senate rebuked the deal, saying 'it isn't compromise; it's surrender'.

In Ohio, former Senator Sherrod Brown (running again for the Senate) said “This is a bad deal for Ohioans.”

“That’s not a deal,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY) said, “It’s an unconditional surrender.”

Nathan Sage, running for US Senate in Iowa, slammed the Senate Democrats who “caved and accomplished nothing.”

Sara Rodriguez, candidate for Wisconsin Governor said: “Tonight’s vote may have ended the shutdown — but it sent Wisconsin families the bill. Senate Democrats had a choice: stand firm for working people or cave to political pressure. They chose wrong.”

Haley Stevens' 2 main opponents for the US Senate in MI in 2026: “This is a bad deal,” Mallory McMorrow said in a video, adding that “the old way of doing things is not working.” Abdul El-Sayed slammed the “shit” agreement and said the eight Senate Democrats gave up the Party'd leverage “when we actually can force Republicans to the table”.

Sen. Chris Murphy (CT) said there was "no way to defend" the yes vote. “My fear is that Trump gets stronger, not weaker, because of this acquiescence”.

Tim Walz also slammed the deal.

Senator Tammy Baldwin, WI US Senator said: “A wink and a nod to deal with this health care crisis later – with no actual guarantees – is just not enough for me or the Wisconsin families I work for. I refuse to sign off on a deal that doesn’t lower working families’ health care costs.”