WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at Senate Republicans to end the government shutdown, now the longest ever, blaming the record-breaking impasse for the party’s defeat in closely-watched elections while Democrats emboldened by their off-year victories dug in for a fight.

Trump, whose first term at the White House set the previous government shutdown record, said this one was a “big factor, negative” in Tuesday’s races. He repeated his demands for Republicans to end the Senate filibuster as a way to reopen government — something senators have refused to do.

Buoyed by their electoral wins, the Democrats also hardened their resolve. The Democratic leaders said it’s time for Trump to get serious about negotiating an end to the stalemate. They demanded he get off the sidelines and meet with the congressional leaders to resolve the problem of expiring health care subsidies that are central to the debate.

“The election results ought to send a much needed bolt of lightning to Donald Trump that he should meet with us to end this crisis,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Now in its 36th day, the shutdown and its impacts have deepened nationwide. The federal closures are disrupting the lives of millions of Americans with program cuts, flight delays and workers scrambling to make do without paychecks. Officials have warned of a worsening climate to come, including chaos in the skies if the shutdown drags into next week and air traffic controllers miss another paycheck.

Expectations were high that the logjam would break once results were tallied in elections that were widely watched as a gauge of voter sentiment over Trump’s second term.

But Trump’s demands Wednesday that Republican senators get rid of the filibuster as a way to end the shutdown complicated an already difficult situation.

“It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that’s terminate the filibuster,” Trump said during a breakfast meeting Wednesday with GOP senators at the White House.

Trump pushed for ending the Senate rule that requires a 60-vote threshold for advancing most legislation as a way to steamroll the Democratic minority on the shutdown and pass a long list of other GOP priorities. Republicans now hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Democrats have been able to block legislation that would fund the government, having voted more than a dozen times against.

“We must get the government back open soon,” Trump told the senators.

That push is likely to go unheeded by Republican senators but could spur them to deal with the Democrats.

With Trump having stayed out of the shutdown debate, instead keeping a robust schedule of global travel and events, including at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, the talks have intensified among a loose coalition of centrist senators trying to negotiate an end to the shutdown.

Trump has refused to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to salvage expiring health insurance subsidies until they agree to reopen the government. But skeptical Democrats question whether the Republican president will keep his word, particularly after the administration restricted SNAP food aid despite court orders to ensure funds are available to prevent hunger.

Trump’s approach to the shutdown stands in marked contrast to his first term, when the government was partially closed for 35 days over his demands for money to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall. At that time, he met publicly and negotiated with congressional leaders. Unable to secure the money, he relented in 2019.