Source: Semafor
by David Weigel & Eleanor Mueller
“A government shutdown would unfold just weeks before statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia, with furloughs and layoffs hitting while more voters are tuning in. But neither party expects to get an advantage from the resulting chaos, in either state. It’s a surprising reality that points to how little the risk of a shutdown has broken through with voters or outside-the-Beltway media. Democrats are confident that voters would associate a shutdown with the Trump administration and see any layoffs as an extension of Elon Musk’s unpopular DOGE, but they’re not planning to hammer it home. And Republicans sense they have other, stronger issues to close out their off-year races, viewing the shutdown as more of a distraction.” (09/30/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/09/30/2025/us-shutdown-isnt-landing-in-key-2025-elections