Angus King III is holding off on criticizing the deal to end the federal government shutdown that his father, U.S. Sen. Angus King, helped negotiate, even as many prominent Maine Democrats have been united in their opposition.

King III, who is in a crowded Democratic primary for Maine governor, issued a written statement Tuesday in response to questions from a reporter on whether he supports the deal.

He focused on the need to ensure food assistance is funded, said the shutdown needs to end and said he is committed to fixing the problem of health care costs. But he held back on criticizing the plan, which other Democrats have taken issue with because it does not include a guarantee that Affordable Care Act subsidies expiring on Jan. 1 will be extended.

“No one wins a shutdown, and it was certainly made clear that Republicans are willing to risk that harm, while everyday Mainers lose,” a statement from the younger King said in part. “And I’ve had enough of it.”

King III’s campaign said he was not available for an interview Tuesday. His response comes as other Democrats in Maine and elsewhere have responded with more forceful and proactive criticism.

In neighboring New Hampshire, the daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who worked with Sen. King to negotiate the Senate deal, posted on the social media site X that she could not support it. Stefany Shaheen is a candidate for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st District.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, whose daughter Hannah Pingree is also in the governor’s race, said Monday that she opposed the plan and would not be voting for it.

On Sunday night — when the Senate first voted to move forward with the plan — Hannah Pingree posted on Facebook that “Congress needs to extend the health care tax credits now.”

“Congressional Democrats cannot rely on a vague commitment by Republicans who have only ever sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” Pingree wrote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has promised a Senate vote on the health care subsidies by mid-December as part of the plan approved Monday. But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, has not agreed to take up the issue and many Democrats have said the senators who broke with the party should have continued to hold out.

The three other leading Democrats in the 2026 Maine governor’s race also criticized the deal in public statements.

“Politicians in D.C. just don’t get it,” former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson said in a written statement. “They don’t understand what it’s like to sit around the table at night and wonder how you’re going to make ends meet. … And we are just supposed to ‘trust them’ that there will be a vote to address affordable health care sometime in the future.”

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ campaign sent an email to supporters Monday saying the Senate’s “cave on health care to end the shutdown revealed the true divide in our party today. It’s between Democrats who fight and Democrats who cave.”

And former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah said in an Instagram video Monday that Democrats who voted for the deal failed to stand up for their values.

“At least we’re in a better position when it comes to future negotiations, right?” Shah said. “That’s a negative, ghost rider.”

Sen. King, who normally enjoys broad support in Maine, appears to be feeling the backlash to the deal. A Facebook post King made on Sunday explaining his vote to support the deal garnered more than 5,000 comments — many of them critical.

Among those who weighed in was Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford.

“I think your deal is as thin as November ice on a Maine lake — it’s gonna fall through,” Fecteau wrote on Sen. King’s Sunday post.

Some Facebook users were also encouraging people to protest a speaking engagement he has scheduled at Colby College on Wednesday. King will appear virtually, not in person.

A spokesperson for Sen. King said he was not available for an interview Tuesday. In an interview Monday, King defended the plan, saying the shutdown had dragged on for too long and was not getting Democrats anywhere. He had previously voted in early October in favor of a Republican spending proposal, saying at the time that a shutdown would only empower Trump to reshape the federal government without congressional input.

“I understand people being upset and saying, ‘You caved,'” Sen. King said. “But the reality is that the folks who wanted to continue the shutdown have no answer when you say, ‘What’s the end game?'”

The statement from the younger King on Tuesday was slightly different than a statement his campaign said it issued to the national online news outlet Axios on Monday that was also being circulated on social media. That statement seemed slightly more supportive of the plan.

“Let’s be clear, today is far from perfect,” the Monday statement said. “But for the millions of people who have been asked to shoulder the burden of the shutdown, the very same people who were hurting so much before it even started, it is a better day than yesterday.”

Heather Cuzzi, King’s campaign manager, said the statements were different because the questions posed by Axios were slightly different.

“At the end of the day, both statements reflect the same thing,” Cuzzi said. “Angus is deeply committed to and believes no kid should go hungry, that we need to fix the health care crisis and that nobody wins in a shutdown.”

Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, and several Democratic contenders in the 2026 U.S. Senate primary, including Gov. Janet Mills, are among sharp critics of the plan.

“Senate Democrats in Washington have caved to bad-faith authoritarians holding the government hostage — and left millions of Americans’ health care on the chopping block,” Daughtry said in a written statement Tuesday. “That’s not compromise, it’s capitulation.”