Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat for a lengthy hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.
When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat for a lengthy hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on September 4, one thing was clear: the former Democrat is now firmly part of the Republican coalition.
President Donald Trump sided with Kennedy in the controversial ouster of Centers for Disease Control director Susan Monarez, and Democratic leaders—from the centrist to the Bernie wings of the party—are now calling for RFK Jr.'s resignation. At the same time, Trump and the GOP are signaling that the Make America Healthy Again movement will be key to their campaign pitch in next year's midterms.But look beneath headlines like these, and a very different story is emerging.This summer, key MAHA leaders openly revolted against the GOP after House Republicans voted to take a step to shield pesticide companies from legal liability and to hobble oversight of 'forever chemicals' like PFAS. In August, the discontent grew when a leak showed that the White House's forthcoming MAHA strategy report would sidestep tougher limits on pesticides and other agrochemicals, bowing to fierce industry pressure. Perhaps most surprisingly, nearly every major MAHA organization has championed legislation from progressive stalwart Sen. Cory Booker to expand accountability for Big Ag companies that manufacture toxic chemicals—legislation which no congressional Republican has yet cosponsored.So, what's going on? Is MAHA hardening into a far-right movement, or is it increasingly up for grabs?The answer depends on whether Democrats can get beyond their comfort zone and present some important truths to an unlikely set of voters.While the conventional wisdom is that MAHA is all about vaccine skepticism, much of the movement's energy and attention is focused on reining in toxic chemicals in industrial agriculture—an issue on which Democrats have a far stronger record and a far more credible policy program than Republicans. Many in the movement are also focused on progressive priorities like addressing the proliferation of microplastics, ensuring access to healthy school meals, and even reversing threats to public lands. Like Kennedy himself, most of the MAHA faithful were recently Democrats. What's more, there's a substantial swath of voters—think Joe Rogan listeners and functional medicine enthusiasts—who may not strongly identify with the movement but resonate with at least some of its ideas.We recently conducted a poll with YouGov of 1,300 Americans and found strong evidence that Democrats have an electoral opportunity. Overall, 89 percent of voters—including 87 percent of Republicans—said they favor banning pesticides already prohibited in Europe when those chemicals pose health risks. Ninety-one percent said they would prefer stronger rules on business if that's what it takes to clean up toxics and ensure healthier food; even among Republicans, support was 83 percent.Despite their MAHA rhetoric, Republicans are brazenly moving against the near-national consensus on these issues. This month, the top Republican on the House Agriculture Committee revealed that he wants to help ensure that the makers of agrochemicals, including known-carcinogens like glyphosate, have legal immunity as part of the next farm bill. Every Republican on the House Appropriations Committee recently voted for a bill that included a provision to achieve similar objectives, along with a measure to prohibit the EPA from regulating 'forever chemicals' present in sewage. Across the states, GOP legislators are pushing liability shields for the makers of toxic agrochemicals. The Trump White House has appointed lobbyists from Big Ag and the chemical industry to key policy and regulatory positions in the EPA. All the while, DOGE decimated organic programs like the Natural Resources Conservation Service that help conventional farmers transition away from costly reliance on chemical inputs.These issues have surprising political salience today. In our polling, 57 percent of Republican respondents told us they would consider voting for a candidate from the other party if that candidate made healthy food and toxic-chemical reduction a top priority.Cory Booker offers Democrats an object lesson in how to seize this opportunity. Focus on substance. Call the Republicans' bluff when it comes to supporting healthy food. In sponsoring legislation to create a legal right for Americans to sue for harms caused by toxic pesticides, the New Jersey senator dared the GOP to stand up to the agrochemical industry. He's even won praise from MAGA influencers by doing so.To win MAHA voters back into the fold—or at least dissuade them from supporting Republicans—Democrats need to understand that these Americans see themselves as crusaders against corporate corruption. Even if there's fundamental disagreement on the issue of vaccines, Democrats should forcefully press the case that Republicans are still wedded to Big Pharma on issues like generic drug development and that it was, for example, President Joe Biden who finally required drug companies to negotiate prices with Medicare.Democrats should offer an agenda that appeals directly to MAHA: ban the most dangerous agrochemicals that are banned in the EU, provide real support to farmers to overcome a rural financial crisis and reduce dependence on industrial inputs, ensure robust funding for healthy school meals nationwide, among other policies.It's understandable—especially given the recent developments at the CDC—for Democrats to reject the idea of engaging with Kennedy's movement. But nearly every analysis of the party's 2024 loss has concluded that future success depends on building a big tent and entering respectful dialog with voters who hold opposing views. If Democrats were willing to bring Dick Cheney into the fold, the party should at least be trying to win back the hippies.Tim Ryan is a former 10-term Member of the US House of Representatives from Ohio.Justin Talbot Zorn served as legislative director for three Congressional Democrats. He is an adviser to several health and environment advocacy groups.The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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