by Adam Pack
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, under pressure from the party’s growing left flank to maintain his stance on the government shutdown, could gain a moment of approval in front of a crowd of the party’s core voters next weekend.
Congressional Democrats, including Schumer, plan to attend a “Kingless” rally in the nation’s capital and join more than 2,000 planned demonstrations across the country protesting President Donald Trump and his political agenda. Republicans say Democrats have shut down the government until Saturday’s protests, where lawmakers are expected to announce their willingness to fight the Trump administration and strengthen their position among progressives.
“I realize that the far-left Democratic base is gathering in D.C. this weekend, which puts additional pressure on Democrats,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday. “But I hope they will do the right thing and vote to reopen the government anyway.”
This prospect has not come true as Democrats blocked passed by the House, a bipartisan funding measure that is expected to end the shutdown for the tenth straight year on Thursday. Schumer and most of his caucus also filed a procedural motion Thursday to consider a defense spending bill that would protect Pentagon funding and military pay from funding lapses.
The prolonged downtime is due to the activities of left-wing activist groups, including: Indivisibleco-organizer of the “Without Kings” protests. insistence members to call Democratic offices and urge lawmakers not to bow to Republican demands to reopen the government.
Schumer apparently has developed its current suspension strategy with several left-wing groups behind the anti-Trump protests.
The minority leader announced in a speech Thursday that he would participate in the “No Kings” rally.
“We will not be silenced,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “This is how dictators evolve: when good people of different beliefs and backgrounds remain silent. No King’s Day says we will not remain silent.”
Republicans to argue that Schumer’s decision to go all out with a government shutdown is a purely political calculation designed to win the approval of his far-left critics and galvanize the party’s base.
“They want to have their day in the sun,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, referring to Democrats’ planned attendance. “But [Democrats] we really should make a deal.
Schumer does he demanded that Republicans agreed to add $1.5 trillion on unrelated health policies, including a $350 billion extension of pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies, to the immaculate finance measure in exchange for his caucus’ support. Democrats also pressed Republicans to agree to language that would limit the president’s power to defund and reverse his previous cuts in foreign aid and public broadcasting, which did not sit well with most GOP lawmakers and the White House.
With neither side willing to give in to the other’s demands, the suspension is expected to continue next week with no resolution in sight.
Although Schumer acted largely in coordination with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries during the 17-day parliamentary shutdown, the top House Democrat demurred when asked by DCNF about his plans to attend Saturday’s “No Kings” rally.
“I have not confirmed a schedule for this weekend because I hope that Republicans will actually come to their senses and decide that they need to get back into town and, with some degree of urgency, reopen the government on behalf of the American people,” Jeffries told DCNF.
Jeffries and almost every member of his club voted against the Clean Temporary Fund Act in September, which would prevent a shutdown.
Top Republicans are sharply criticizing Democrats for announcing their planned presence at anti-Trump rallies in the middle of the government shutdown, arguing that the demonstrations would be a display of left-wing radicalism.
“Democrats have shut down your government for 16 days,” House GOP conference chair Lisa McClain said Thursday. “Have posed for glitzy photo ops outside the Capitol. Have he shouted on Capitol Police officers – who, by the way, Democrats refuse to pay.”
“Now they are preparing for this weekend’s I Hate America rally, a rally where they will be cheering for chaos, not for the country,” McClain continued.
Tennessee is already set to become a hotspot for No Kings weekend. The organizers have it targeted 33 cities across the state for demonstrations, from Memphis to Johnson City. The Tennessee arm of the movement insists the protests will be a “peaceful national holiday.”[s] action and mass mobilization,” paying attention to issues ranging from migration policy and executive overreach to environmental mandates and education reform.
The expanded footprint in Tennessee is significant: June’s first wave of “No Kings” events included only 25 locations across the state; the recent implementation significantly expands the scale. In key districts, demonstrations could force both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to confront local pressures head-on — particularly in suburban and neighboring counties such as Rutherford, Sumner, Wilson and Madison. For Democrats who hope to keep the momentum going, Mobilization in Tennessee serves as both a rallying point and a test of on-the-ground skills ahead of the 2025 TN-7 special elections and then the 2026 midterm elections.
But Democratic lawmakers have largely rejected that characterization and have vowed to keep the protests peaceful.
“I support the sacred constitutional right of all Americans to peaceably assemble and speak out about what is happening” – Sen. Jon of Democratic Georgia Ossoff said DCNF.
Even though Ossoff is the most vulnerable Senate Democrat running for re-election in the midterms, he has fully embraced the shutdown strategy.
“My plan is to go there and see it and be a part of it,” Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper, Democrat, told DCNF. “I think it will be a powerful statement because millions of people across America will say we don’t like the direction the White House is taking this country.”
“I know everyone is working very hard to prevent violence from occurring,” Hickenlooper added. “There’s nothing provocative. I think that’s what many in the White House would like to see, for everything to degenerate into chaos.”
Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner also confirmed to DCNF that he will visit protests in the Shenandoah Valley on Saturday.
However, not all Democrats will attend the “No Kings” rally.
Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who has repeatedly defied her party in the fight to shut down the legislature, told DCNF she has other plans.
“I’m going to work here,” Cortez Masto said as he left the Senate chamber.
The Nevada lawmaker was just one of three Democrats who voted in favor of a funding measure to ensure troops don’t miss pay during Thursday’s shutdown.
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Adam Pack is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation. Andi Shae Napier and Caden Olson contributed to this report.
Executive Editor Tennessee Star AND Star News Network Christina Botteri also contributed to this report.
“Sen. Chuck Schumer” photo by Senator Chuck Schumer and “No Kings Protest” directed by Shannoncommons CCSA4.0.
