Recently, the Democratic Party rode a rare wave of optimism. For the first time in nearly a year, it finally felt like progress was on Democrats’ side.
According to a polling conducted earlier this month by NBC News, “one year before the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats lead Republicans in the fight for Congress by eight points, 50%-42%.” The largest lead since the 2018 congressional elections.
Last week, the blue party celebrated momentous victories throughout key states. In Virginia, the Democratic candidate, Abigail Spanberger, won the governor’s race by making history as the state’s first female governor. Similarly, in the Garden State of New Jersey, Mike Sherrill also won the governorship.
In Georgia, Democrats notably flipped two Republican-held seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission; yes, Democrats have been on a high.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer excitedly claimed, “Last night was a shellshacking for all Republicans, and Donald Trump. Last night was clear, unmistakable, as a repudiation of Trump and a vindication of what Democrats have been fighting for over the last several months.”
For the past 43 days, Democrats have refused to budge on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insisting that any funding bill to reopen the government must include an extension of the enhanced ACA premium tax credits.
Everything was working in the Dems’ favor–until it wasn’t.
On Sunday night, the Senate took its first steps to end what is now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. With that, a group of eight moderate Democratic senators broke ranks on Sunday to advance legislation to reopen the government, sparking an immediate civil war within the Democratic coalition.
However, now that the federal government is reopening after seven long weeks, instead of focusing on the present, the Democrats’ high-horse elitism has led them to attack leaders in their own party.
“With respect to the senators…they are going to have to explain themselves,” Said house minority leader Hakeem Jefferies early Monday morning in response to the 60-40 vote which paved the way for the spending agreement to begin making its way through Congress.
Democrats were never going to win this uphill battle on healthcare reform — at least not now. That was impossible from the get-go. Today, Democratic power is severely constrained, given that the Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress (both the House and the Senate).
Vinay Menon, an entertainment columnist for the Toronto Star, writes, “This week’s bickering within the Democratic party is counterproductive — and a free gift to Trump. The Dems don’t need to pick a progressive or centrist side. They can be both.”
While advocating for affordable and adequate healthcare reform is so incredibly important, the undeniable reality is that Democrats never had any leeway to find a common ground under the current state of the Republican party.
Claiming that they are the party fighting for the everyday American, Democrats’ constant refusal to compromise hurt the very people they claim to represent: federal workers, low-income families and urban communities that depend on government services. Let’s call it what it is: political self-righteousness.
According to the American Federation of Government Employees, “about 1.4 million federal workers are going unpaid-with roughly half being furloughed and the rest required to work. Not to mention, this previous shutdown severely disrupted food assistance programs, such as SNAP.
So while the leftist political elites of Washington continue to debate policy to make themselves look better, low-income, marginalized families are wondering every day how they are going to feed their families.
Freya Gillette, a 37-year-old single mother from Texas, told Time Magazine that, “When her SNAP benefits were cut this month, she had to divide what little money she had among food and bills.”
It is stories like that that should bring the democrats into shame. Arguably, Democrats are just as bad as Republicans — if not worse. Instead of being a party that focuses on governing, they end up fighting each other through chaos and weakness.
Let’s be honest for a second: Democrats were never going to win the ACA battle. It does not matter how long the government shutdown lasted; it was never going to happen under the 119th Congress.
Yes, Democrats should continue to advocate for affordable healthcare access for every American. However, this shutdown could have been completely avoidable. With Trump and his allies controlling the Hill, Democrats should have known better than this.
The eight moderate Democrats didn’t ‘cave’ to Republican pressure; they saw the adverse effects of the government shutdown beginning to affect their own constituents, such as delayed air travel and missed paychecks, while also understanding that many Americans are growing increasingly fed up with government dysfunction.
For the party built on victimization, Democrats have found a far more effective method: themselves. Democrats have successfully turned infighting into an art. Instead of unity, they have chosen self-righteousness. Ironic, right? A party so consumed with proving its purity has forgotten how to govern. In other words, it’s time Democrats touch some grass.