The House Republicans’ campaign arm is focusing a new advertising campaign on Democrats from politically risky seats who voted against the GOP’s sweeping effort to cut taxes and pass Medicaid work requirements, setting the stage for what may prove to be one of the biggest political messaging clashes of next year’s midterms.
Republicans in Washington are attempting to use their control of Congress and the White House to put in place major conservative agenda items sought by President Donald Trump and his allies through one massive piece of legislation, titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The House GOP’s narrow passage of Trump’s agenda earlier this week has set off a struggle between Republicans and Democrats to sway voters about the impact of the bill that is widely expected to play a large role in the 2026 midterm elections, where control of the House will be decided.
In a statement about the advertising campaign, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella said the campaign arm “will make sure voters don’t forget how [House Democrats] betrayed working families.”
The round of digital advertisements places a particular emphasis on the tax portion of the Trump agenda bill, which continues key parts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was the centerpiece of his first term in office. Plans show the ads will target 25 House Democrats and make the argument that by opposing this week’s bill, the Democrats voted “for the largest U.S. tax hike in generations.” Of those 25 districts, 13 are seats where a Democrat won the House contest while Trump carried the district in the presidential race.
Republicans’ best chance at padding their narrow majority next year could come in places that had some of the closest Congressional races in the entire country during the 2024 presidential election, including a California seat where the Democratic candidate ousted a Republican incumbent by less than 200 votes. Other areas closely watched by the GOP that are also the subject of the latest ad campaign include two Democrat-held seats in the red state of Ohio, districts Trump won in the battleground states of North Carolina and Michigan, as well as seats that could prove to be competitive in New York, New Jersey and New Mexico.
Yet while many House Republicans in Washington are cheering the legislation, Democrats see ample political liabilities for their opponents. Democratic leaders view the House as the party’s best chance at quickly winning back power in Washington during Trump’s presidency, given the perils an incumbent president’s party routinely faces in a midterm election and the small number of seats it would likely take to flip control of the chamber.
The GOP’s targeting of Medicaid in particular has quickly been seized on by the left as a major campaign issue, as Democrats charge the Republican agenda’s changes imperil healthcare for millions of people.
“America cannot afford the Republican tax scam. Now that vulnerable Republicans are on the record voting for it, this betrayal of the American people will cost them their jobs in the midterms and Republicans the House Majority come 2026,” Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, the chair of the House Democratic campaign arm, said in a statement earlier this week.
It remains to be seen however what kind of bill can eventually make it to Mr. Trump’s desk, given the changes the GOP-led Senate may make once it gets its hands on the legislation.
