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As the shutdown<\/span> deal between centrist Senate Democrats and Republicans drew fury from the Democratic base, primary candidates for U.S. Senate from Iowa to Maine were quick to call for Sen. Chuck Schumer to go.<\/p>\n In Maine, populist oysterman Graham Platner said Schumer had \u201cfailed.\u201d In Iowa, two candidates in the crowded field of Democrats hoping to replace Republican Sen. Joni Ernst likewise called for Schumer\u2019s resignation as Senate minority leader. A third candidate opposed the deal<\/a> but was noticeably quieter on whether Schumer should bow out, however: Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek has drawn the backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee<\/a> \u2014 the establishment fundraising body aligned with Schumer \u2014 and the calls for Schumer to resign put him in an awkward spot.<\/p>\n Though Schumer publicly opposed the deal that passed in the Senate on Monday and the House of Representatives on Wednesday, many Democrats are blaming him<\/a> for failing to corral the party members who crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans on a deal to end the longest government shutdown in American history.<\/p>\n The backlash in Iowa against the deal betrays a larger phenomenon playing out in House and Senate primaries across the country. Moderates and progressives alike are blasting the deal \u2014 but candidates without establishment support have been more likely to blame Schumer.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish it was just tactics. I wish it was just strategy. I think it\u2019s actually a difference in worldview.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n These factions have also offered strikingly different analyses of whether the dealmakers\u2019 surrender was merely a tactical failure or a symptom of a deeper rot, which is the contention of Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin, whose group is making opposition to Schumer a condition of its support in primaries next year.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish it was just tactics. I wish it was just strategy. I think it\u2019s actually a difference in worldview,\u201d Levin said. \u201cThere is a surrender caucus that is made up of senators who do not believe this is a crisis, who do not think this is a unique threat to democracy, and who think we should just lay low, in James Carville\u2019s words<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Because none of the Senate Democrats who voted for the deal are up for reelection next year, the vote will not directly fuel primary challenges against them.<\/p>\n That is not to say it won\u2019t feature in primary races, however \u2014 perhaps most directly in New Hampshire. Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of shutdown dealmaker Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, felt compelled to express her disappointment<\/a> with her mother\u2019s decision as she runs for a seat in the House.<\/p>\n While the Shaheens said they had a genuine mother-daughter disagreement, it was also an acknowledgment of the reality that the party\u2019s base seems overwhelmingly opposed to the shutdown deal.<\/p>\n Taking the cue, many House and Senate candidates have blasted the dealmakers for ending the shutdown without a commitment from Republicans to restore expiring Affordable Care Act premiums.<\/p>\n In Minnesota, two Senate candidates representing both the moderate and progressive wings of the party also slammed the deal.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But fractures have emerged between candidates on the question of whether the deal is a sign that Schumer should resign. Turek, the establishment-backed Senate primary candidate in Iowa, has been silent on Schumer while criticizing the deal. State Sen. Zach Wahls, one of his opponents, said Turek owed it to voters to more clearly articulate his stance.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, we need a senator who works for Iowans, not for Chuck Schumer or Donald Trump or billionaires in big corporations,\u201d Wahls told The Intercept on Wednesday. \u201cI have not seen anything, and I think it would be terrific if he joined our call on Sen. Schumer to step down from his leadership role.\u201d<\/p>\n In Maine, Platner said that Schumer had \u201cfailed in his job yet again.\u201d Schumer\u2019s preferred candidate in that race, Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, dinged the deal but didn\u2019t lash out at Schumer in her own social media post.<\/a><\/p>\n Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Not everyone calling on Schumer to go is self-identified progressive. New Democrat Coalition member Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., was one of the first calling for Schumer to go<\/a> in March, when the senator led Democrats in capitulating to Republicans<\/a> and voted<\/a> to avert a government shutdown.<\/p>\n In a post<\/a> on X, centrist Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts cast the deal as an example of the party\u2019s gerontocracy problem. Moulton, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Ed Markey<\/a> for his Senate seat and trying to capitalize on the age<\/a> of his older opponent, said the deal was \u201canother example of why we need new leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
A Widely Panned Deal<\/h2>\n