Several Democrats recently broke with most of their party and voted with Republicans on high‑profile issues in late 2025 and early 2026, mainly around ending the government shutdown and health‑care subsidies tied to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These cross‑party votes were framed by the lawmakers as necessary to protect federal workers and preserve ACA premium tax credits, even if it meant siding with GOP leaders in key procedural and final votes.

Context: What vote is this about?

Most current discussion of “who are the Democrats that voted with Republicans” refers to the shutdown‑ending deal and related votes over ACA subsidies and government funding in late 2025, plus follow‑on health‑care votes in the House in early 2026. In those fights, a small bloc of Senate Democrats and one Democratic‑aligned independent helped Republicans end the shutdown, while all House Democrats and a group of Republicans later passed an ACA subsidy extension bill.

Senate Democrats who sided with Republicans

In the Senate shutdown vote, a handful of Democrats broke with most of their caucus to back a Republican‑negotiated agreement to reopen the government and secure a vote on ACA premium subsidies.

Key Democrats highlighted in reporting who sided with Republicans to end the shutdown include:

  • Tim Kaine (Virginia) – Emphasized protecting ACA subsidies and the large federal workforce in his state.
  • Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) – Argued prolonging the shutdown would only deepen the harm to Americans and stressed she had long pushed for premium tax credits.
  • Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada) – Pointed to damage to tourism and working families as Republicans used shutdown tactics, saying reopening government was essential despite flaws in the deal.

Reporting also notes that “a group of Democrats and one Democratic‑aligned independent” backed the agreement, but not all of their names are clearly enumerated in public summaries. At the same time, several prominent progressives, including Bernie Sanders, opposed the deal as too generous to Republicans and too harmful to health coverage and Medicaid.

House dynamics: Democrats vs. Republicans on ACA subsidies

In the House, the most noted cross‑party vote in early 2026 actually went the other way: a bloc of 17 Republicans joined all Democrats to pass a bill extending enhanced ACA subsidies for three more years. That means no Democrats broke with their party on that key health‑care bill; instead, moderate Republicans crossed over to vote with Democrats.

Those Republicans included, among others, Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Mike Lawler (NY), Nick LaLota (NY), Tom Kean Jr. (NJ), David Valadao (CA), and several others from competitive districts who framed their votes as standing up for health‑care affordability. One of them, Lawler, stressed that his support reflected a push for a bipartisan solution rather than a simple rubber‑stamp of a three‑year extension.

Why these Democrats voted with Republicans

From their own public statements, the Democrats who sided with Republicans to end the shutdown and secure health‑care votes cited a few main reasons:

  • Protecting ACA premium tax credits that help keep marketplace plans affordable for tens of millions.
  • Preventing further harm to federal workers and agencies as the shutdown dragged on.
  • Avoiding deeper economic damage, especially in states reliant on federal employment or tourism.
  • Accepting what they described as “the best possible offer” after weeks of failed negotiations, even though many colleagues believed the compromise was too tilted toward GOP demands.

At the same time, critics inside the Democratic Party argued that the agreement would raise premiums, shrink Medicaid, and deliver large tax cuts to the wealthy, contending that Democrats should have held out for a better deal rather than providing the decisive votes Republicans needed.

Bottom line

When people ask “who are the Democrats that voted with Republicans,” they are usually pointing to:

  • A small group of Senate Democrats (notably Tim Kaine, Jeanne Shaheen, and Catherine Cortez Masto) plus one Democratic‑aligned independent who backed a Republican‑brokered shutdown‑ending deal tied to ACA issues.
  • A broader context in which, on the House side, it has more often been moderate Republicans voting with unified Democrats on ACA subsidies, rather than Democrats breaking with their caucus.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.