Still, Republicans are leaning in and highlighting the issue, with many of them using populist rhetoric criticizing insurance and drug companies. The goal, according to three GOP strategists, is more about trying to narrow the Democratic advantage than expecting to win on the issue.<\/p>\n
![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260831-donald-trump-vl-618p-8d2965.jpg\")
President Donald Trump holds up a poster that displays “Pharmaceutical Investment Commitments” during a healthcare affordability event in the Oval Office at the White House on Aug. 31, 2026.Kevin Dietsch \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
In ultracompetitive Michigan, Senate candidate Mike Rogers is running an ad<\/a> inveighing against high prescription drug costs relative to Canada. Rogers, a former Republican congressman who is calling for price transparency rules<\/a> for hospitals and insurers, held an event Saturday attacking Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s \u201cMedicare for All\u201d<\/a> proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cI just can\u2019t think of a more important issue to the people of Michigan than healthcare \u2014 their costs, their rising costs and how we get to the bottom of it,\u201d Rogers said at the healthcare-focused event in Taylor. \u201cHe wants Medicare for all. I want Medicare for seniors. They\u2019ve earned it, they\u2019ve worked for it, let\u2019s improve it, let\u2019s get it going.\u201d<\/p>\n In Iowa, Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson launched an ad<\/a> in May saying \u201chealthcare companies are ripping you off\u201d and that she\u2019s \u201cworking with President Trump to take on big insurance companies.\u201d<\/p>\n In a New Jersey swing district, Republican Rep. Tom Kean is running an ad lamenting that too many families \u201csuffer because of big insurance companies.\u201d Kean, who missed four months of work in the House<\/a> citing treatment for depression, touted his bill<\/a> to boost Labor Department authority to enforce mental health rules for insurance plans.<\/p>\n Even in deep red Kansas, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is running an ad<\/a> that credits him for \u201cstanding up to big insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats are blasting the $1 trillion in Medicaid spending cuts that Republicans passed on party lines in President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill,\u201d as well as a pot of Obamacare funding that Republicans successfully pushed to end last year. Those two moves are estimated to cause more than 10 million people<\/a> in the U.S. to lose coverage or, for those on Affordable Care Act, pay more for<\/a> insurance. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has vowed to restore the Medicaid and ACA funds<\/a> as Democrats\u2019 top priority if they capture House control.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you scratch the surface, healthcare is always an important issue to voters. And it\u2019s an issue to try to talk to swing women voters and other subgroups of swing voters,\u201d said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who co-conducts the NBC News poll with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans need to make up a deficit with women voters, and when you ask women what they are most focused on, healthcare always scores very high,\u201d McInturff said, while adding: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to win an issue. You just have to compete on the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n According to NBC News polling, Democrats have consistently led on healthcare since the early 1990s. Their edge topped 30 points in 2008, ahead of a blue wave, and it fell to as little as 7 points in 2010, a red wave year.<\/p>\n And while Republicans spent much of the last decade, including Trump\u2019s first term, attempting to repeal or undo the ACA, the party has never coalesced around an alternative. The party has long favored curtailing healthcare funding to align with its support for tax cuts, a position that is coming into conflict with its growing reliance on working-class voters.<\/p>\n Hinson, Kean and Marshall all voted for the Medicaid cuts. All but Kean voted against resurrecting ACA money. Rogers, who left Congress in 2015, has not said whether he\u2019d support reviving the ACA funds, and his campaign had no comment about how he\u2019d vote on reversing Medicaid cuts in Trump\u2019s megabill last year.<\/p>\n \u201cMichiganders see through Mike Rogers\u2019 B.S. and understand that if he\u2019s elected to the Senate, Rogers will eagerly continue his life\u2019s work as Big Pharma\u2019s<\/a> greatest champion,\u201d said Cole Wozniak, a spokesperson for El-Sayed, who has also vowed to restore the Medicaid and ACA money. \u201cMichiganders deserve far better, which is why Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is running to fight back against Big Pharma and deliver Medicare for All.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House\u2019s internal polling shows that the administration\u2019s work to lower drug prices is one of its most popular second term achievements, and it has encouraged Republican candidates to run on those issues, according to a senior White House official.<\/p>\n