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President Trump’s declaration that the closure had hurt his party on Tuesday appeared to have stiffened Democrats’ resolve and put at least a temporary damper on talks to end the crisis.
Nov. 5, 2025, 2:58 p.m. ET
Democratic victories in key statewide elections on Tuesday have injected a jolt of energy into the party’s resolve to continue the government shutdown fight, putting at least a temporary damper on bipartisan talks to end the crisis.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday dug deeper into their demand that President Trump negotiate with them on health care subsidies in exchange for reopening the government, after Mr. Trump declared that the record-long federal closure had hurt his party in Tuesday’s elections.
In the days leading up to the balloting, some centrist Democrats had signaled that they were ready to strike a deal to end the standoff. Patience has worn thin across the political spectrum with a shutdown that has furloughed hundreds of thousands of federal workers, sapped nutritional benefits for millions of Americans and snarled air traffic.
A clutch of Democratic moderates has been meeting privately with a handful of centrist Republicans, mostly to discuss spending legislation that would fund the government.
But Mr. Trump’s declaration on Wednesday at the White House that the shutdown had hurt Republicans appeared to have complicated efforts to find an off-ramp, at least for now.
“The shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” Mr. Trump told Republican senators at a breakfast, adding, “We must get the government back open soon — and really, immediately.”
