“Republicans messed around and found out.”
Washington, D.C. — Tonight, health care dominated voting booths across the country as Democrats reclaimed control of the Senate, completing their takeover of Congress after Donald Trump and Republicans took a wrecking ball to the American health care system in order to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.
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 and lower costs, Democrats won on what Americans have consistently cited as the top concern during this election cycle.
“Tonight’s blue wave is one for the books. This sweeping Democratic victory marks a monumental win for health care and an unmistakable rejection of Trump’s unprecedented assault on the American health care system,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Since returning to the White House, Trump has had a Republican controlled Congress ready to sign off on his every move. But those days are over. Democrats’ landslide victory tonight is a testament to just how fed up people are with paying the price for Trump’s war on health care. Now, a new wave of ‘Health Care Democrats’ are headed to Washington with a mandate to demand answers, challenge Trump’s reckless health care agenda, and put patients and families back at the center of the health care debate”
“This was a health care election. Full stop,” said Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse. “It was a sweeping rejection of Trump and Republicans’ assault on health care, from slashing more than $1 trillion in health care funding, driving up costs, and kicking 8 million Americans off the coverage they relied on to see a doctor. Republicans messed around and found out. They lost control of both chambers of Congress, bringing an end to the congressional majorities that allowed them to ram through their devastating health care cuts in the first place. Now, with Democrats back in control of the House and Senate, Republicans must work to fix what they broke in health care or there will be hell to pay in 2028.”
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.”