'What happened to you?' Dems eye 2028 as they blame this Republican for megabill

Democrats are seizing on Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote to pass the GOP’s sweeping megabill, as they rush to cast him as the face of a deeply unpopular measure they say could haunt him in a future presidential run, according to a new report in Politico.

The Senate passed the bill after 27 hours of debate Tuesday, with Vance stepping in to break the 50-50 tie. The former Ohio senator – seen as “the presumed heir to the MAGA movement in 2028” – lauded the bill as a problem solver for illegal immigration.

But Democrats quickly came out to slam Vance and the bill, which they say slashes Medicaid, axes food assistance, and delivers tax cuts to the wealthy, Politico added.

“VP Vance has cast the deciding vote in the Senate to cut Medicaid, take away food assistance, blow up the deficit, and add tax breaks for the wealthiest,” former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote in an X post. “This bill is unpopular because it is wrong.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) posted: “What happened to you @JDVance — author of Hillbilly Elegy — now shrugging off Medicaid cuts that will close rural hospitals and kick millions off healthcare as ‘minutiae?’”

“Democrats’ rush to tie the bill so closely to the vice president illustrates their belief that it could be toxic for the GOP in the midterms and 2028 — and that it could hurt Vance if he runs for president once Trump leaves the political stage,” Politico noted Tuesday as Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom also came out to rip Vance's tie-breaking vote.

"Bookmark this," Newsom wrote on X. "JD Vance is the ultimate reason why 17 million Americans will lose their healthcare."

A spokesperson for Vance did not respond to a request for comment, but the vice president has pushed hard for the bill’s passage, arguing it protects the country from going “bankrupt” due to illegal immigrants being showered with “generous benefits.”

“Even as Trump still has more than three years left in his final term, politicians on both sides of the aisle are already jockeying in the shadows to replace him,” the Politico report said. “Although polling this early is not a reliable predictor for a presidential field still years away from breaking out into the open, Vance has led significantly in early GOP primary surveys.”