Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said Thursday his party’s “brand” could undergo “substantial damage” if Democrats were to cave and reopen the federal government following their overwhelming election victories Tuesday night.

“There will be some pretty substantial damage done to a Democratic brand that has been rehabilitated, if on the heels of an election in which the people told us to keep fighting, we immediately stop fighting,” Murphy told Punchbowl News on Thursday morning. “We’re going to start operating on an increasingly short calendar. The 2026 election is just 12 months away. And if we surrender without having gotten anything, and we cause a lot of folks in this country who had started to believe in the Democratic Party to retreat again, I worry that it will be hard to sort of get them back up off the mat in time for next fall’s election cycle.”

Murphy alluded to Democratic victories in California, Virginia, New Jersey and New York, and suggested voters’ support for his party also validates Democrats’ shutdown strategy. The senator’s comments come as moderate Democrats continue shutdown talks, and millions of Americans feel the impacts of the frozen government reach their wallets, kitchens and airports.

Republicans’ latest shutdown offer includes advancing a package of three full year spending bills and a willingness to discuss the rehiring of federal workers that were laid off during the shutdown. It reportedly does not address the expiring Obamacare subsidies, according to Politico.

The ongoing negotiations have caused some Democratic lawmakers to shun the idea of reopening the government without securing an extension of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies that both the House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump agree to. (Read more from “Democrats Vow To Continue Shutdown For Sake Of The Party’s ‘Brand’” HERE)

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