The California Democrat broke with the party to end the government shutdown. His polling tells a wider story.

Washington – Rep. Adam gray was one of only 6 democrats in the house – and the only person from California – who voted with the Republicans to allow the shutdown to close the government, and there was a reason behind this decision.

Gray, a first-time Democrat from the Central Valley, is running again in a largely Latino district that is still heavily active in Republicans and is expected to defend the Midterm’s midterms in the midterm elections. Last year, Gray won his seat by 187 votes, and although redistricting has since made the 13th district more attractive to Democrats, it remains very competitive.

The Merced Democrat vote reflects the political reality of representing one of the nation’s few battleground states. Gray positions himself as a democrat with an independent mind to break down leadership in spontaneous political issues. The closing deal gave him a rare opportunity to put that into action, even at the risk of frustrating members of his team.

“I know it’s wrong, and I know there are people who are going to be mad at you,” Gray told Times. “But I’m not here to win an argument. I’m actually here to help fix problems with people in my community, and I know I did the right thing.”

Democratic representatives and senators for weeks focused on opposing the shutdown deal that did not include language to extend ObamaCare tax credits that are set to expire.

In Gray’s county, more than half of residents rely on Medi-Cal or sing about the Afforce Care Act MarketPlace, making them vulnerable to rising health – a pocketbook problem that may be a comme already sharp race.

Aside from health, about 48,000 families in his large rural district rely on food benefits through the food assistance program, known as Snap, according to the latest data provided by the Department of Agriculture. Those benefits were put at risk during the shutdown as funding for a federal program called food stamps became embroiled in legal disputes.

As the shutdown dragged on without meaningful discussions on health care, Gray, he worried that more liberal Republicans were “taking advantage of vulnerable Americans to gain political power.”

In the end, gray was among just 13 Democrats – six in the House, seven in the Senate – who opposed their party to end the 33rd shutdown.

“The government is reopening because the Democrats were willing to compromise,” Gray said.

The deal, which was signed by President Trump last week, will fund the government through January 2026 and restore federal workers created during the shutdown. It will also fund a deal with Snap through September 2026, a gray provision that Gray says he wanted to protect because he worries the split could lead to another shutdown in January.

Republicans attacked his position

Although Gray was voted by Republicans over the shutdown, Republican National operatives still see his seat as a key target ahead of next year’s election — and for good reason.

The chair has a history of pulling team.

In 2024, Gray won his seat by 187 votes, the best streak of any race in the country. His opponent, Republican John Duarte, who finds himself a centrist in the race, only held the seat for one term before being defeated. (And he beat the previous two incumbents by only 564 votes.)

President Trump took the 13th year last year by five points, emphasizing the competitiveness of the central Valley region that supported joe biden in 2020.

The passage of Proposition 50 made the district safe for Democrats as the new redistricting map changes parts of Stockton, Modesto and Northern Stanislaus County into the district, while eliminating the long visible, rural area west of Fresno. However, it remains a very competitive region.

Like Duarte, Gray is determined as a centrist, but that doesn’t stop the Republicans from portraying him as coming from the far-flung party’s plateau.

Christian Martinez, a spokesman for the National Republican Presidential Committee, is now focusing on the history of gray voting in the shutdown as a reason to criticize the working class. Specifically, how gray I am in September I was barred from voting on a bill that would have prevented the shutdown.

“Instead of delivering results for California, Out-of-Postutal Adam Gray is too busy enjoying his social socialist base, and is now fully responsible for holding the American people to the longest government shutdown in history,” said Martinesz.

Martinez added that “Californians in California are paying the price for his refusal to vote to keep the government open, and next November, they will send him packing.”

Gray now faces a Republican challenge from Stockton incumbent Kevin Lincoln. When Lincoln announced his bid on November 6, before the shutdown vote, he criticized Gray for not doing enough to prevent the shutdown in the first place.

“Washington politicians like Adam Gray fall in line with a failed liberal agenda that has made life less expensive and less safe,” Lincoln said in a statement.

Going forward, Gray sees the vote as an opportunity to reset negotiations and find a bipartisan solution before the money runs out again on Jan. 30, 2026.

“I think we’re going in the right direction,” Gray said. “I hope our colleagues have the courage to do the right thing in the coming days.”

Back in his district, Democrats had a mixed reaction to his votes. As for his colleagues of the combation, they never offered much criticism, choosing to allow the anointing to explain his voting in the 13th district.