LEESBURG, Virginia — House Democrats privately and publicly steamed Thursday evening about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to back passage of a GOP spending patch they had fiercely opposed.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said he was “extremely disappointed,” while Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) called it a “gut punch.” Some Democrats attending the yearly Democratic policy retreat here went so far as to privately hope that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) would launch a primary challenge against Schumer — though he’s not up for reelection until 2028. Some centrist lawmakers even quipped about cutting checks to Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told his caucus behind closed doors that they could be proud of their decision to vote against the stopgap funding bill. He did not mention Schumer.
“Dr. King once made the observation that, although everyone may not see it at the moment, the time is always right to do what’s right,” he said, according to a person in the room. “This week, House Democrats did what was right. We stood up against Donald Trump. We stood up against Elon Musk. We stood up against the extreme MAGA Republicans.”
Jeffries received a standing ovation from his caucus. He and other Democratic leaders later said in a joint statement that “House Democrats will not be complicit” and “remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill under consideration in the Senate.”
It was part of a split-screen reality for House and Senate Democrats over the past 48 hours, since House Republicans managed to muscle through their seven-month stopgap.
Over the first two days of their retreat in Virginia, House Democrats urged the Senate to follow their lead and stop the bill. All but one House Democrat had opposed the bill. Meanwhile, Democratic senators were wrangling with a tougher choice — unlike in the House, some in their ranks would have to put up votes for any shutdown-averting bill, greatly raising the stakes.
Still, lawmakers expressed little sympathy. “Democrats were elected to fight for working people, not put up a fake fight,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Progressive Caucus.
Separately on Thursday evening, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addressed House Democrats gathered at the Lansdowne Resort for a closed-door discussion with Jeffries, drawing a warm reception from the lawmakers.
The three governors all represent states won by President Donald Trump in 2024 and have tacked to the center at home.
The lawmakers also heard from presidential pundits including James Carville, Bill Clinton’s strategy maven, and Dan Pfeiffer, Barack Obama’s communications director, among other experts who are advising the minority party.
“We’ve got to show the American people that we’re focused on their worries when they wake up in the morning and go to bed at night,” Beshear told reporters earlier Thursday. Democrats had to focus on “core concerns” to earn back voters’ trust, he said.
He also criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to put former Trump strategist Steve Bannon on his podcast, telling reporters: “Steve Bannon espouses hatred and anger and even, at some points, violence, and I don’t think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere.”