Republicans Are Calling It The ‘Schumer Shutdown.’ Why Are They Making It All About AOC?

WASHINGTON—As the government shutdown rolls into the weekend, Republicans are making something very clear: this may be the “Schumer Shutdown,” but it’s a different New Yorker who’s really to blame.

It started on Wednesday, when Vice President JD Vance surprised the White House press corps at the day’s briefing.

“The reality here, and let’s be honest about the politics, is that Chuck Schumer is terrified he’s going to get a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Vance said.

From there, it was off to the races. House Speaker Mike Johnson took the talking point and ran with it, highlighting an alleged rift between New York’s senior senator and the congresswoman from Queens in several interviews and on X, where he proclaimed “Chuck Schumer is driving his party OFF A CLIFF because he’s TERRIFIED of AOC and the far left. That’s not leadership.”

All manner of prominent Republicans have invoked the looming Schumer-AOC contest as the reason for the shutdown, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Senators Bill Cassidy (LA), Tom Cotton (AR), and Roger Marshall (Kansas), as well as Reps. Byron Donalds (FL), and Nancy Mace (SC).

Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY) told The Daily Wire that the “Schumer Shutdown” has “nothing to do with policy and everything to do with politics.”

“Chuck is so consumed by the threat of a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that he’s willing to put his own job security ahead of the American people,” Lawler said.

He slammed Schumer for “cowardice” and said his actions only “hurt hardworking New York taxpayers.”

This is hardly the first time lawmakers have blamed the opposing party and their policies for shutting the government down. In 2013 it was Harry Reid and Obamacare; in 2017, Donald Trump and the border wall. But this time around, Republicans are going beyond blaming Democrats or even Democratic leaders. Notably absent from these conversations is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) who has been as active on the issue as Schumer.

The attempt to drive a wedge between Schumer and AOC — whether to alienate the moderate and radical wings of the Democratic Party, or signal that there’s no daylight between them — seems to be as much about defining the post-shutdown conversation as it is about assigning blame. Like President Donald Trump, who is leveraging the shutdown to curtail the federal government, congressional Republicans seem intent on using this shutdown to their advantage.

On Friday afternoon, Senate Democrats for the fourth time blocked a continuing resolution that would reopen the government. Republicans’ rhetorical strategy continued apace.

NRSC spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez tells The Daily Wire she believes Schumer “has been plotting this government shutdown with far-Left radical activists for months.”

She said she believes Democrats low approval ratings are “only going to keep getting worse” because Schumer and “rank-and-file Democrats” including Georgia Senator John Ossoff are “more focused on appeasing the deranged rage of their liberal base that wants illegal aliens to have free healthcare.”

“There are two very big reasons why Chuck Schumer would make a toxically-leftist policy like free healthcare for illegals as his ‘why’ for this shutdown: crazy Democrat primary voters love it, so it could help in an AOC primary. And he is desperate to win over this radical group of openly socialist Senate candidates leading in Democrat primaries across the country that want to end Schumer’s reign as Senate Democrats’ leader if any of them win in the midterms next year,” Rodriguez said.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) observed that the continuing resolution, already passed by the House, is the “same clean bill Senate Democrats — including Schumer — voted for in March.”

So, what changed?

Sources with knowledge of the issue told The Daily Wire it all began after Schumer voted to fund the government until Sept. 30, reportedly receiving backlash from Democrats.

A month later, a poll showed AOC leading Schumer in a hypothetical 2028 matchup by 19 points.

“Because Schumer allowed the government to be funded several months ago, the Left wing rose up against him,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on his podcast this week. “You want to understand why we have a shutdown? It’s one thing: Schumer is looking over his left shoulder and he sees AOC running up behind him — and he is terrified he is going to lose his job,” Cruz said.

Perhaps the surest sign Republicans’ strategy is working is that AOC keeps responding. On Tuesday, she told MSNBC that the shutdown is “so not about me.” Two days later, she and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — the leaders of the Democrat Party’s radical wing — released a three-minute video on the shutdown.

The next day, NBC pressed AOC again about a possible Senate run. The congresswoman equivocated, saying “I think the answer is that people are sick of politics being determined by these horse races.”

Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.