House Republicans in battleground districts are showing unity in their stance against negotiating the government shutdown, with Speaker Mike Johnson leading the effort to maintain a clean continuing resolution (CR) to fund federal operations. The standoff has reached another week, with the fiscal deadlock showing no signs of slowing. Eight House GOP lawmakers whose seats are being targeted by Democrats in 2026 spoke with Fox News Digital this week, revealing a notable display of unity among the GOP conference, which has been plagued by historic levels of division in recent history, particularly over the issue of government funding.
Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., who defeated a moderate Democrat for his seat last year, stated, “The more people understand the math inside of the Senate, the more I would say Republicans are winning.” Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., who also flipped her seat from blue to red, argued that the results of the 2024 election show Americans “can see through a lot of the games that the Democrats have been playing.” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., said, “It’s a simple math problem. And the Democrat Party grossly underestimated the American public’s ability to understand math.”
The shutdown is poised to continue as most Senate Democrats voted to block the GOP’s bill for a tenth time. Republicans put forward last month a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a long-term deal for FY2026. However, Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in those talks, with the majority refusing to accept any deal that does not include serious healthcare concessions, particularly extending the pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of this year.
Several vulnerable Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital pointed out they are in favor of extending the Obamacare subsidies as well. Indeed, a majority of them are backers of a bipartisan bill to extend them for one year, led by Kiggans. “I think we would actually prefer to have … longer term than one year,” said Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa. But Mackenzie also pointed out that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., criticized the one-year bill, adding, “He already said ‘Absolutely not,’ so I don’t even know what their position is and what they’re asking for.” Jeffries later walked those comments back, telling reporters that Democrats were willing to look at any good-faith offer.
While the majority of vulnerable GOP lawmakers argue that the CR passed in September was the appropriate course of action, some dissent within the House GOP is evident. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has criticized House Republican leaders for not announcing a plan on extending the Obamacare subsidies. And Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., publicly ripped Johnson’s decision to keep the House out of session while the Senate considers the CR. “It is absolutely unacceptable to me and I think only serves further distrust,” Kiley told MSNBC on Wednesday.
Notably, not all battleground House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital directly backed Johnson’s move — but none explicitly condemned it, either, and most blamed Senate Democrats for the hold-up. “I’m kind of torn on that, because to come back and just be a part of the gimmicks that you see going on right now is not helpful,” Valadao said. “Holding the government hostage is what’s the problem here.” Kiggans, who said she’s lobbying for the House to vote on a standalone bill to pay both active duty and civilian members of the military, said, “I think we all want to get back to work. We know that we have work to do, but the ball’s in the court of the Senate Democrats and Chuck Schumer.”
Others more directly backed the move, however. Kean told Fox News Digital that his staff were still busy in D.C. and in New Jersey trying to help constituents navigate the shutdown and other matters. “Any chance we can get back to our district, it’s always important that we listen to our constituents and hear their concerns,” Kean said. “Right now, I 100% support the decision.” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said it was “the right move.” “We should be with our district. I’m keeping all my district offices open despite nobody getting paid,” Nunn said. “Coming back and having a theatrical debate is less effective than having a real conversation about how to get the government back open.”