WASHINGTON – Republicans are about to adjourn Congress for a year after doing nothing on health care, and Democrats are looking to make them pay.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Wednesday it would place Grinch-themed billboards targeting Republicans in eight swing districts, labeling them as the congressmen “who stole health care.”

It’s an early salvo in a 2026 midterm campaign that will likely have plenty of Democratic messaging on health care. Democrats have long had a significant confidence advantage on the issue, and increased their prominence by shutting down the government for six weeks this fall to demand that Republicans extend expired Affordable Care Act subsidies that were first implemented four years ago.

Democrats have linked health care to broader dissatisfaction with rising prices, and hope “affordability” can help them take back the House. In January, when the subsidies have expired, more than 20 million Americans will have to deal with monthly premiums that will double in price.

Republicans in purple districts are worried this could cost them their seats.

“It doesn’t mean we can’t win the midterms, but is it helpful? Absolutely not. Do I think it’s good? Absolutely not,” Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, whose district covers southern New Jersey, told News themezone.

Image of DCCC mailer directed at Rep. Mike Lawler (R.N.Y.)
Image of DCCC mailer directed at Rep. Mike Lawler (R.N.Y.)

DCCC

Van Drew is part of a group of moderate House Republicans clamoring for a vote on bipartisan compromise legislation to extend ACA subsidies, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that no vote would be taken.

“There are about a dozen members in the conference who are in swing districts who are fighting hard to make sure they lower costs for all of their constituents. And many of them wanted to vote on Obamacare, you know, the COVID-era subsidy that the Democrats created,” Johnson said Tuesday. “We looked for a way to try to allow that pressure release valve, and it just didn’t happen.”

Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Mike Lawler (R.N.Y.) called the refusal to allow a vote “idiotic and shameful.” Johnson later met with Lawler and the other moderates, but there was no progress.

The House will vote this week on a package of Republican health care reforms that would reduce insurance premiums but also reduce the number of people with health insurance. In an analysis published Tuesday, the The Congressional Budget Office said The legislation would reduce the insured population by about 100,000 per year, on top of the several million expected to lose coverage as a result of the disappearance of premium subsidies.

The eight lawmakers who will be targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Grinch ads include some of the Republicans from swing districts who have signed on to bipartisan health care proposals: Lawler, Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), David Valadao (California) Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), Zach Nunn (Iowa), Ryan Mackenzie (Pennsylvania), Rob Bresnahan (Pennsylvania) and Jen Kiggans (Va.).

“The Republican health care crisis will be the defining issue in the 2026 midterm elections, and the DCCC will hold the faux moderate Republicans accountable for doing nothing to fix it,” DCCC spokesman Justin Chermol said in a statement.