MARY KATHARINE HAM: Republicans have a huge MAHA opportunity in 2026 — if they don’t blow it

It’s election year, and in a midterm year, sometimes holding a coalition together can feel as tough as getting your family through spring sports, spring musicals, spring break and spring allergies all at once.This is where Republicans can take some advice and inspiration from the very suburban parent voters whose support they need in key districts this fall.

As someone who’s spent years talking to center-right women, I can tell you this:health and wellnessare not niche issues.They’re not “woo-woo” or fringe.They’re kitchen-table, group-text, grocery-aisle stuff.It’s what moms are talking about while swapping tips about sleep, anxiety and the cleanest snacks they can find for their toddlers.

The MAHA movement, championed by figures likeRobert F.Kennedy Jr.and embraced rhetorically by PresidentDonald Trump, taps into something real that appeals to people across income, racial and party lines: Americans are exhausted by chronic disease, ultra-processed food and rising childhood obesity.A broad spectrum of parents are also concerned about increased screen time, social media use and their effects on children’s mental health.

Women — especially moms — are often the chief health officers of their households.They are looking for leaders who acknowledge that something is off and are willing to challenge entrenched interests, which moms often suspect are making their health choices harder.

GOVERNMENT SAYS ‘EAT BETTER’ BUT MAKES IT HARDER TO FEED YOUR FAMILY

Read More → Rare Roman mosaic shows woman battling wild animals in the arena, researcher says

That’s the opportunity.Along with them, I’ve moved from trust in institutions to skepticism.I’ve been burned by big promises and become more concerned about having options that serve my family by being preventive instead of reactive.

A 2025 KFF/Washington Post poll found that more than 80% of parents, both MAHA and nonaligned, agree on the need for change and transparency on additives, highly processed foods and sugar content.A whopping 75% of parents ranked social media use as a major threat tochildren’s healthand have led a sea change in support for practical solutions, like cellphone bans in schools.Those parental priorities are reflected in the MAHA Commission Report, released in 2025, which covers them all.It was a welcome change from the surgeon general’s report on youth mental health during the Biden administration in 2021, which managed to reduce school closures and increased screen time required by those closures to a literal footnote.

Republicans who frame MAHA around these concerns — and around empowering families to solve them by giving parents better information, improving food quality, supporting maternal health, investing in metabolic health and encouraging transparency — can build a coalition that includes suburban women who may not agree with the GOP on every issue but desperately want a culture shift around health.

HEALTHCARE, ECONOMY AND THE ‘ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’: WELCOME TO THE MIDTERMS

And it’s not just words, but actions.An expansion of Health Savings Accounts in theOne Big Beautiful Billallows millions more Americans to use their own money for their own decisions, tax-free, and to put it toward primary care and telehealth.Congressional Republicans also required moreprice transparencyfrom benefits managers as a tool for bringing down drug prices.

Read More → MIKE DAVIS: California’s highest court disgraces itself by upholding disbarment of John Eastman

But here’s where the danger creeps in.

When the conversation turns to limiting access tocommon medicationslike Tylenol during pregnancy, broadly casting doubt on vaccines, or heavy-handed censorship of healthcare information through avenues like drug ads, which creates speech concerns, the political calculus changes — fast.

Read More → Giant golden spiders could spread this summer;experts downplay health risk

VIVEK RAMASWAMY TURNS TO CONSERVATIVE YOUTH TO SHAPE THE MOVEMENT’S NEXT PHASE, ANALYZES 2026 RACES

One reason President Trump had such a strongcoalition in 2024was the response to overreach during the pandemic — with an administration that believed it knew better than I did what was good for my kids.But if MAHA means simply substituting RFK’s personal pet views on things like vaccines and pharmaceutical ads for Dr.Fauci’s, then we’re not solving the problem.

Voters distinguish between “We want more transparency and safety data” and “We want to make it harder for you to access routine care.” The latter sounds destabilizing, and when it comes to health issues, the Affordable Care Act gave them enough of that to last a generation.

There’s also a deeper risk: conflating skepticism with cynicism.

Read More → ‘Highly unusual’cannonball cache found at construction site in coastal city may be world’s first

NEWT GINGRICH: REPUBLICANS GET SECOND CHANCE TO FINALLY FIX HEALTHCARE

Many voters want reform because institutions have lost their trust.I’m one of them.But they don’t want to burn those institutions down.Democrats held a 20-point edge on the issue of education for generations, but long-term school closures by politically motivated school boards and unions gave Republicans a chance to peel off some of those voters with common-sense, concrete approaches as simple as opening schools and unmasking toddlers.Healthcare is another perennial Democratic strong suit, but bad pandemic policies degraded trust andgave Republicans a shotat these voters in 2024.

To keep these voters, keep it common-sense and concrete.For instance, where education and health intersect — kids, school and screen time — it has become a bipartisan no-brainer, as 38 states have enacted some kind of screen limitation in schools, withRepublican-led states like Florida, Indiana and Virginia under former Gov.Youngkin leading the charge.

Polling shows that, even in the MAHA coalition, support for routine vaccines like MMR is high, while skepticism remains about COVID and flu vaccines, or their timing, which these voters put in a different category.Their thinking, like the coalition itself, is not simple or monolithic.They want improvements, guardrails and accountability, but get nervous about sweeping restrictions that feel like experimentation.

Midterms are decidedin the margins, by addition, not subtraction.They’re decided by voters who may like parts of the Republican economic message but still worry about cultural turbulence or instability.If Democrats are able to run ads accusing Republicans of threatening access to vaccines, pain relievers or basic healthcare information, that errant pitch will not stay confined to cable news debates.It will land in the t-ball stands on Saturday mornings.