Democrats are making a play for President Donald Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” voters, betting that frustration over the administration’s stalled food-safety agenda could pry loose a key piece of his coalition.
MAHA voters, drawn by promises to clean up the food supply, are credited with helping Trump win a second term, but infighting over issues like pesticides has fueled speculation they may not turn out for Republicans in next week’s midterms, reported Axios.
The cracks widened last week when Trump health adviser Calley Means resigned, reportedly over the slow pace of food-policy changes. Means insisted on X that the “movement is just getting started,” but other MAHA leaders aired their grievances publicly.
Vani Hari, the influencer known as Food Babe, wrote that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “commitments to our movement are being stalled by corporate capture and special interests at the very top of the White House.”
“The progress he is trying to make is getting killed by the corporations poisoning us,” she added.
Democrats see an opening. The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, released a proposal on healthier food and reducing harmful chemicals, along with polling that found 37 percent of Trump voters are open to backing a Democrat running on core MAHA issues.
“If you’re looking at who are the swing voters in this electoral environment, they overlap very highly with voters who care about these issues,” said Becca Siegel, CAP’s chief insights officer.
Topher Spiro, an author of the CAP report, conceded that “Democrats haven’t done a great job of prioritizing” the issues.
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has called for banning certain pesticides, while House Democrats’ health care working group included a section titled “Reclaiming MAHA and Protecting American Families," and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has pushed legislation increasing companies’ liability for harm from pesticides.
Nonpartisan polling from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that while only a quarter of Americans call themselves MAHA supporters, 80 percent back labeling ultra-processed foods and 76 percent support removing artificial dyes from food.
The movement’s vaccine skepticism remains a nonstarter for many Democrats, but the Annenberg survey found those priorities are far less popular than the food agenda.
The White House brushed off talk of a fracture.
“The MAHA coalition has never been stronger or more empowered,” said White House spokesperson Allison Schuster, touting an overhaul of federal dietary guidelines.
