Democrats Set To Exploit Republican Vulnerability On Health Care

Democrats Set To Exploit Republican Vulnerability On Health Care

Arthur Delaney

Wed, December 17, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

3 min read

WASHINGTON — Republicans are about to adjourn Congress for the year after having done nothing on health care, and Democrats are looking to make them pay.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Wednesday said it was putting up Grinch-themed billboards targeting Republicans in eight swing districts, and labeling them the congressmen “who stole health care.”

Politics: Mary Trump Says ‘Depraved’ Uncle’s Attacks On Rob Reiner Prove A Brutal Truth

It’s an early salvo in a 2026 midterm campaign likely to have lots of Democratic messaging on health care. Democrats have long held a major trust advantage on the issue, and they raised its salience by shutting down the government for six weeks this fall to demand that Republicans extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies first put in place four years ago.

Democrats have tied health care to broader dissatisfaction with rising prices, and hope “affordability” can help them win back the House. In January, when the subsidies have expired, more than 20 million Americans will contend with monthly premiums doubling in price.

Republicans in purple districts worry it could cost them their seats.

“It doesn’t mean that we can’t win the midterms, but is it helpful? Absolutely not. Do I think it’s good? Absolutely not,” Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, whose district encompasses Southern New Jersey, told HuffPost.

Image of DCCC billboard ad targeting Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) DCCC

Van Drew is part of a group of moderate House Republicans clamoring for a vote on bipartisan compromise legislation to extend the ACA subsidies, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday said no vote would happen.

“There’s about a dozen members in the conference that are in the swing districts who are fighting hard to make sure that they reduce costs for all of their constituents. And many of them did want to vote on Obamacare, you know, the COVID-era subsidy the Democrats created,” Johnson said Tuesday. “We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be.”

Politics: Donald Trump Jr. Announces Engagement To Bettina Anderson At White House Holiday Bash

In remarks on the House floor, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) called the refusal to allow a vote “idiotic and shameful.” Johnson later met with Lawler and the other moderates, but there’s been no breakthrough.

The House will vote this week on a package of Republican health care reforms that would reduce insurance premiums, but also reduce the number of people with health insurance. In an analysis released Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office said the legislation would shrink the insurance population by about 100,000 per year on top of the several million expected to lose coverage as a result of the premium subsidies going away.

The eight lawmakers who will be targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Grinch ads include some of the swing-district Republicans who’ve signed on to bipartisan health care proposals: Lawler, Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), David Valadao (Calif.) Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), Zach Nunn (Iowa), Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.), Rob Bresnahan (Pa.) and Jen Kiggans (Va.).

“The Republican health care crisis will be the defining issue in the 2026 midterms, and the DCCC will hold the phony moderate Republicans accountable for doing nothing to fix it,” DCCC spokesman Justin Chermol said in a statement.

Political Updates

Read the original on HuffPost

About Our Ads

Source