RFK Jr. launches midterm travel push to shore up 'MAHA' support

Source: Politico

04/04/2026 07:00 AM EDT


Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is ramping up midterm travel to revive his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, armed with a carefully crafted list of popular food and fitness policies to sell — and divisive issues like vaccines to avoid.

“MAHA is a charged item tied to MAGA, but the issues that he’s really delivered victories on are popular, and we’re going to try to execute a strategy to talk, you know, really about those issues and what he’s done,” said a senior administration official, who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss the secretary’s midterm strategy. Kennedy will appear alongside Republican House and Senate lawmakers in states with some of the most competitive House and Senate races this fall — as well as many of the 2028 presidential swing states.

Kennedy is expected to visit Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, California, Virginia, Ohio, Montana and Texas. The Trump White House is leaning on Kennedy’s popularity to boost its messaging. A senior White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the secretary, called him “one of our most requested surrogates and the Cabinet official that congressional candidates want out on the stump with them.”

The midterms will be a test of Kennedy’s influence and whether he can continue to channel his grip on MAHA into wins for the GOP. He is one of the most divisive members of Trump’s Cabinet — the face of unpopular policies like cuts to Medicaid that Democrats plan to hammer Republicans for in the midterms. Democrats also hope to exploit possible strains between Kennedy and his base after a recent decision by the Trump administration to shore up pesticide production infuriated MAHA advocates.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/04/rfk-midterm-travel-trump-maha-support-00858803?ICID=ref_fark