“Republicans finally caught the car, and it ran them over.”
Washington, D.C. — Tonight, an electoral health care wave crashed over Republicans and carried Democrats into a commanding House majority after Donald Trump and Republicans took a wrecking ball to American health care to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. This was a health care election. Full stop. And it was a resounding rejection of Donald Trump and Republicans’ assault on American health care and a mandate to hold them accountable for the damage they have done, including spiking costs and ripping away health care from 8 million Americans. Republicans lost the congressional majority that allowed them to ram through more than $1 trillion in health care cuts to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Now, with Democrats back in control of the House, Trump can no longer count on a rubber stamp for his attacks on health care to line the pockets of his billionaire friends.
Democratic candidates up and down the ballot won the most dramatic health care election since 2018. By holding Republicans accountable for their health care crisis and championing a path forward to expand coverage, lower costs, and rein in the abuses and price gouging of pharmaceutical companies, Democrats won on what Americans have consistently cited as the top concern during this election cycle.
“This is a monumental victory for the millions of Americans who are paying the price for Trump and Republicans’ reckless assault on health care,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “After Democrats kept health care in the spotlight and fought tirelessly against Republican lies, they have fought their way back to a House majority. Throughout this election cycle, Democrats put Republicans on blast for gutting more than $1 trillion from health care to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Now, under the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries, Democrats will come to Washington with a mandate to fix what Trump broke and to go even farther to expand coverage and lower costs so that every American has access to the care they need at a price they can afford.”
“Democratic candidates up and down the ballot won the most dramatic health care election since 2018 after Republicans gutted care and spiked costs to give tax breaks to billionaires,” said Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse. “Until they passed the big ugly bill, Republicans had tried and failed repeatedly to gut Medicaid and sabotage the Affordable Care in service of tax breaks for the rich. This time, Republicans finally caught the car, and it ran them over.”
A QUICK LOOK: How Health Care Came to Dominate 2026
- LEADERSHIP: Democrats have spent the past year and a half leading the fight against Trump and Republicans’ war on health care. Democrats provided universal opposition to H.R. 1, which made the largest health care cuts in history to pay for tax cuts. When Republicans shut down the government to rip away health care tax credits for working people, Democrats fought to protect the ACA and won that fight overwhelmingly in the court of public opinion. Democrats forced a vote in the House and rebuked Republican leadership to pass a bill extending the credits for three years — which Republicans immediately blocked in the Senate. Democrats have put health care at the top of their 2027 agenda and took that to the voters, who overwhelmingly trust Democrats over Republicans on the issue by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
- AD SPENDING: Health care is a defining part of the political conversation among candidates regardless of party affiliation. The Cook Political Report’s Battleground Issue Tracker, which analyzes campaign advertising across competitive House and Senate races nationwide, finds that health care is the number one issue in Senate advertising and the number two issue in House advertising, behind only taxes. According to the Washington Post, Democrats have spent $400 million on health care ads — more than 1.5 times as much as Republicans on the issue.
- HEADLINES: Health care has dominated headlines about the election, documenting how hospital closures, rising costs, and Medicaid cuts are at the center of the political landscape.
- The Bulwark: Why 2026 Is a Health Care Election
- Vox: Why healthcare has become such a big problem for Republicans
- Politico: Medicaid cuts haunt Republicans in battleground states
- AP: She voted for Trump every time. Then came cancer and the bills
- The Hill: Republicans struggle for an answer to Democrats’ Medicaid attacks
- The American Prospect: New Medicaid Requirements Galvanizing Dems in Battleground States
- POLLING: Voters have told us loud and clear that affordability is their top concern, and health care costs have overtaken food, housing, and gas prices as Americans’ top financial concern. Recent polling shows just how far Republicans have fallen behind — what Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy called “a warning light flashing red for the GOP scrambling to stay in power.”
- The HIll: Economy, healthcare, Iran war top voters’ concerns ahead of midterms: Gallup
- KFF: Poll: Cost of Health Care and Gas Top Voters’ Midterm Concerns; Democrats Hold Significant Advantage on Health Care Costs and Cost of Living
- Politico: In competitive House races, Medicaid cuts are a potent issue, Democratic pollster finds
- EXPERTS: In the New York Times, GOP advisor Joel White admitted that Republicans’ message on health care was “falling flat.” Democratic strategist Celinda Lake said: “After spending much of 2026 citing the high price of gas and groceries as proof of an “affordability crisis,” it makes sense for Democrats to build their closing argument around health costs. “A lot of races are finishing on it,” she said. “It’s the No. 1 cost-of-living issue where Democrats have the biggest advantage.”