SNAP Is Now a Key Part of Democrats’ Campaign Messaging

Republicans’ attempts to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have made headlines since the start of the second Trump administration — and Democrats believe that provides a potent opening for them ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Democrats have been pushing for votes on SNAP, fighting in courts to protect SNAP recipients’ data, and emphasizing SNAP’s critical role as a safety net in their campaign messaging to keep it in the spotlight going into the 2026 midterms.

“As long as Democrats keep their eye on the ball in terms of the important kitchen table issues that affect most Americans, I think we stand to do very well,” Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, told NOTUS about Democratic messaging on SNAP ahead of midterm elections.

While SNAP faced its first funding lapse ever during the government shutdown, the program is now funded through September 2026. But changes included in the reconciliation package Republicans passed earlier this year fundamentally overhaul how to qualify for food aid by expanding work requirements, tightening eligibility, and shifting more of the administrative costs to the states.

Altogether, the assistance program is set to lose $187 billion in funding by 2034.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee already launched a digital ad campaign in several GOP-held districts with high SNAP usage, part of a broader effort to tie Republican incumbents to the program’s reductions.

“Vulnerable House Republicans will be forced to answer for their cruel agenda and it’s why they’ll lose the Majority next year,” Katie Smith, a spokesperson for the DCCC, said in a statement to NOTUS.

That message is already surfacing in competitive races, like Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.

“Most Washington politicians have never had to worry about putting food on the table. I have. I’ve taken food stamps before, so I know how important SNAP is to families in need of some extra help,” Bob Brooks, one of the Democratic candidates running there, told NOTUS in a statement. “It’s so frustrating to see Ryan Mackenzie vote to gut SNAP and make life harder for families.”

A spokesperson for Rep. Ryan Mackenzie’s congressional campaign pushed back in a statement.

“Congressman Mackenzie has made delivering for working families his top priority,” Arnaud Armstrong told NOTUS in a statement. He added Mackenzie’s “radical opponents rejected all of these provisions, as well as commonsense reforms like the establishment of work requirements for able-bodied, working-age adults, and incentives for states to improve the efficiency and accurate disbursement of SNAP funds.”

In Iowa, the two Democrats running to unseat Rep. Zach Nunn are highlighting Nunn’s vote for the reconciliation bill and the effects on SNAP it will have in the district.

“He did vote for the, of course, the big bad bill, which will face a $1 billion loss to Iowa over the next decade because of the SNAP cuts that are in the bill,” said Jennifer Konfrst, adding that “the impacts here are being felt far and wide, across the state.”

“It’s incredibly important to me to address the cuts and changes that are happening to our SNAP program,” Sarah Trone Garriott, who works at a food pantry network and is the other Democrat in the race for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, told NOTUS. “These cuts are creating huge problems for our community. The thing about SNAP is it’s always been about helping our neighbors, but it also has an economic stimulus component.”

In a statement to NOTUS, Nunn’s spokesperson, Mark Matava, stood behind some of the changes implemented by Republicans.

“Zach Nunn has always protected Iowans who truly rely on SNAP,” Matava said. “Able-bodied adults should work, study, or volunteer. He made sure Iowa isn’t punished for other states’ mismanagement and supported reforms that crack down on fraud without cutting benefits for those in need.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not respond to a request for comment, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the committee, did not take questions from NOTUS on SNAP on Capitol Hill.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are still sorting out how to approach SNAP.

“I think what happened over 40-some days, where you had millions of Americans unable to eat, I think, was just morally repugnant, and the fact that so many people here were fine with it,” said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of the lapse in the program during the government shutdown. “I think I was the loudest voice on my side of the aisle, the only voice to propose extending SNAP during the shutdown.”

Hawley is the rare Republican raising issue with his party’s SNAP agenda. Most elected Republicans — from President Donald Trump, whose administration opposed using contingency funds to keep the program during the shutdown, to GOP lawmakers who supported making cuts to the program in the reconciliation package earlier this year — are not in agreement with Hawley.

“We made improvements. I think the American people will support what we’ve done,” Sen. John Kennedy said of SNAP. Asked whether the reductions in the reconciliation package represent a liability for Republicans in next year’s elections, he replied, “No, and if you believe that, somebody needs to tell you that the voices in your head aren’t real.”

Hill Democrats have pushed to revisit the broader conversation around funding, with little result, in an effort to ensure the program serving more than 42 million Americans remains in focus.

“Restoring food programs in the United States should be a priority to Democrats and to Republicans,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who represents New Mexico, the state with the highest reliance on the SNAP program in the country, told NOTUS, adding that he’s been pushing for votes to bolster funding for food programs like SNAP. “All of our constituents are going to get hurt by this. I don’t understand why it’s not just being done.”

And in the states, Democratic officials are pushing back against the Trump administration’s efforts around SNAP. That includes a recent announcement by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins that the Department of Agriculture will pause federal funding for blue states if they continue to challenge the agency’s request to review sensitive data of food aid recipients.

Democrats temporarily blocked the request for data in court back in October, but it’s become a key issue to message on as well.

“The Trump Administration is once again playing politics with the ability of working parents with children, seniors and people with disabilities to get food. President Trump needs to order Secretary Rollins to release SNAP funding immediately and prevent more Americans from going hungry,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told NOTUS in a statement.

New York issued its own warning.

“Secretary Rollins must stop playing political games with food for families and children, and guarantee states’ SNAP funding as appropriated, so that no families go hungry or have to go through the same chaos they experienced during the shutdown,” a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul said.