Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) spoke with reporters this week, saying he supported Republicans using the “nuclear option” to override the Senate filibuster to pass a bill to end the government shutdown.Fetterman stated the funds for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, are running dry and people “need to eat” as the shutdown heads into its 21st day.
“There are no winners here. It’s not getting better every day here. People are going to start to get really hungry, and I’ve been fully, fully committed to fund SNAP, open up the government,” he went on to say, before pointing out that U.S. Capitol Police officers aren’t getting paid during the shutdown.
“This is just bad political theater. Open it up,” he told reporters.
Fetterman was then asked whether he supported the GOP “nuking” the filibuster to let a House-approved funding measure pass the Senate with a simple majority. He replied with a firm yes.
“We ran on that. We ran on killing the filibuster, and now we love it. Carve it out so we can move on. I support it because it makes it more difficult to shut the government down in the future, and that’s where it’s entirely appropriate,” he explained. “I don’t want to hear any Democrat clutching their pearls about the filibuster. We all ran on it.”
Of course, not everyone agrees with Fetterman, who in recent years has proven himself to be far more moderate than most members of his party. Ed Kilgore of New York Magazine believes the Pennsylvania senator’s case for the “nuclear option” is faulty:
The filibuster isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition, and not all carve-outs are alike. Over the years, Congress has carved out a series of exceptions to the right to filibuster Senate votes, notably executive- and judicial-branch confirmations and congressional budget measures (e.g., the huge “budget reconciliation” bills like this year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act). This year, Senate Republicans also implicitly carved out certain budget scoring rules to make it easier to disguise the deficit-swelling nature of the OBBBA. So the question is not, as Fetterman appears to suggest, whether to have filibuster carve-outs: It’s what the carve-out is for and whom it benefits.
Kilgore then says that what Democrats actually ran on was to “exempt voting-rights measures from the filibuster following a series of state voter-suppression measures sponsored by Republican-controlled states and defended by Senate Republicans.”
He concludes that it’s not hypocritical for Democrats to want to end the filibuster for one item while not wanting to do so for another
In a stunning upset,– who had been a heavy favorite until recent weeks – conceded after it became clear the the 33-year-old democratic socialist had built a substantial lead over the more experienced but scandal-scarred former governor.
In a speech to supporters, Mamdani said: “Tonight, we made history,” adding: “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”
If his win is confirmed, Mamdani will be seen as the frontrunner for the 4 November mayoral election in New York, a city where
Democrats normally dominate.
After 93% of votes were counted in the primary’s first round, Mamdani, a state representative, had 43.5% of the vote. Cuomo was on 36.4%.
Speaking at a campaign rally,
Cuomo said Mamdani had run a “really smart and good and impactful campaign”. “Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won,” Cuomo said.
New York City uses a ranked-choice voting system, and as neither candidate is likely to reach 50%, the board of elections will now tally people’s second-choice candidates.
Mamdani, who cross-endorsed with Brad Lander, a progressive who came third with 11.4% of the vote, last week, is predicted to benefit more than Cuomo from the count. He thanked Lander in his speech, telling supporters: “Together we have shown the power of the politics of the future: one of partnership and sincerity.”
Mamdani’s rapid rise will serve as a rebuke to the Democratic establishment and give hope to other progressives hoping to run in elections around the US. Cuomo was backed by deep-pocketed donors and endorsed by a wave of centrist figures including Bill Clinton, but Mamdani benefited from a rise in grassroots support among young people in particular.
Cuomo said he had called Mamdani to congratulate him. “He put together a great campaign and he touched young people and inspired them and moved them and got them to come out and vote,” Cuomo said. “I applaud him sincerely for his effort.”
Cuomo told the New York Times he may still run in the November mayoral election as an independent. “I want to analyse and talk to some colleagues,” he said.
But given the heavily Democratic makeup of New York, and the unpopularity of the incumbent Eric Adams, Mamdani would be favorite to become New York’s 111th mayor.
The race for New York mayor has been closely watched across the US. In pitting two drastically different Democrats against each other, it offered a vision of what voters want from a party that has struggled to present a coherent alternative to Donald Trump.
Cuomo, a centrist, and Mamdani emerged as the frontrunners in the final weeks of the primary, Mamdani closing the gap on Cuomo through an abundance of enthusiasm from young New Yorkers.
Mamdani had hoped to benefit from the voting system that allows voters to rank five candidates in order of preference.
Cuomo, who was elected to three-terms as governor before resigning in disgrace amid accusations of sexual harassment, entered the race with the far superior name recognition, and at one point had a 30-point lead in polling. Mamdani ran on a progressive platform, promising to freeze rent and make buses free citywide, and his campaign was propelled by a social media following that dwarfs his rivals’. He was endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at an event attended by thousands of people in June, and has also won the backing of Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator.Cuomo was much less visible, eschewing large rallies for tightly managed appearances at union offices and other small venues. As the race narrowed, his campaign and the organizations backing him – some of which were funded by billionaire Republican donors – focused almost exclusively on attacking Mamdani, spending millions of dollars on mailers and TV adverts.
“This has been a historically contentious race,” Mamdani said. “I hope now that this primary has come to an end, I can introduce myself once more, not as you’ve seen me in a 30-second ad or in a mailer in your mailbox, but as how I will lead as your mayor.
“I will be the mayor for every New Yorker, whether you voted for me, for Governor Cuomo, or felt too disillusioned by a long, broken political system to vote at all.”
Early voting started in New York on 14 June, and the city said more than 380,000 people had voted by Sunday, more than double the number that voted early in the 2021 primary. A heatwave on Tuesday – temperatures in New York reached 100F (38C) – appeared not to have suppressed turnout with more than 1 million people estimated to have voted, CBS New York
The winner of the primary is not guaranteed to become the 111th mayor of New York, but it is highly likely in a city where registered Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans.
Adams, who won the 2021 election as a Democrat but is running this year as an independent candidate, is deeply unpopular. He was charged last year with taking bribes and accepting foreign campaign contributions but the charges were dropped in April after the Trump administration intervened.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is experiencing a sharp slowdown in fundraising, sparking speculation that he could face a primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2026. Federal Election Commission filings show the five-term New York Democrat raised just $133,000 in the last quarter — a steep drop from his usual multi-million-dollar hauls and less than half of what he raised during the same period in his last election cycle, The New York Post reported. In contrast, Ocasio-Cortez, 36, brought in $4.5 million for her House reelection campaign during the same three months. The congresswoman has not ruled out a Senate run, raising concerns that she could target Schumer directly.
Schumer’s campaign spent more than it raised from July through September, shelling out $322,000 while taking in less than half that amount. Although he still has $8.6 million cash on hand, that total lags behind Ocasio-Cortez’s $11.8 million, an unusual reversal for the longtime Senate leader known for his fundraising prowess. Analysts point to her grassroots energy as a driving force behind contributions, with Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee noting, “There’s a big political and financial upside to being bold and capturing energy, and in this moment that accrues to AOC, not Chuck Schumer.” Schumer’s traditional donor base, including Wall Street, lawyers, and real estate interests, appears to be cooling amid the Democratic Party’s generational and ideological shift.
Despite these concerns, Schumer’s office maintains that he remains focused on retaining Senate control. Spokesman Angelo Roefaro said, “Chuck is focused on raising money for Senate 2026 candidates.” Some progressives, however, have criticized his support for older Democratic leaders, portraying the party as led by an aging leadership out of touch with younger voters. Political analysts caution that Schumer’s fundraising decline may be temporary, given his extensive donor network and ability to mobilize resources when needed. With Ocasio-Cortez’s grassroots fundraising surging and Schumer under growing scrutiny, Democrats are preparing for what could become a high-profile intraparty clash in New York.