The Democrat backlash against Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for voting for the Republican stopgap government funding bill shows the Democratic Party is "absolutely lost," Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told Newsmax on Tuesday.
After criticizing the GOP funding bill, Schumer ultimately voted in favor of it Friday to keep federal agencies open. Since then, the New York Democrat has received intense blowback from within his own party, with some Democrats even calling for a primary challenge.
Hudson told "Wake Up America" that "people won't remember" Schumer's vote "necessarily" in 18 months, but "what it shows is the divisions in the Democrat Party."
"They are absolutely lost in the desert," Hudson said. "They have nothing to stand for. Their policies were absolute failure the last four years. But think about what just happened last week: Every single Democrat in the House of Representatives, except one, voted to shut down the government. And what was the principle they were fighting over? It was defending waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
"I mean, that's just a silly position, but that's where the Democrats found themselves," he continued. "Chuck Schumer did the right thing in the end by not shutting the government down, but now he's being pilloried within his party for it.
"He may get a primary challenge, and the Democrats are in complete chaos because they're putting this political theater above the people of the country.”
Looking ahead to the midterm elections, Hudson said the GOP believes "2026 will be an opportunity election for House Republicans" that will build on the substantial demographic gains the party made in the 2024 election.
"There's great opportunity for Republicans," he said. "There's only three Republicans that were elected to Congress in seats that Kamala Harris carried, but there are 13 Democrats sitting in seats Donald Trump won and there are another 21 Democrats in seats that Donald Trump lost by less than five percentage points.
"Of these 13, half of them are Hispanic majority seats that have been trending our way for decades now.
"President Trump put together this great coalition of young people, Hispanic voters, African American voters, and so we see great opportunity," Hudson concluded. "If we get the right candidates in these seats and we get out there and talk about the things we're doing to get the Trump agenda through.
"I think we've got great opportunity to pick up seats."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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