After House Republicans passed a reconciliation bill that would cut Medicaid and food benefits while slashing taxes for the richest Americans, Democrats are already trying to use the vote to score political points.
House Majority Forward, the nonprofit arm of Democratic leadership’s House Majority PAC, is set to start running digital ads Wednesday titled “Big, Ugly Bill,” targeting 26 battleground congressional districts nationwide.
The digital ads — shared exclusively with NOTUS — focus on the cuts to Medicaid in the bill and specifically go after vulnerable Republicans who are top targets for Democrats this cycle, such as Reps. Rob Bresnahan, Chuck Edwards, David Valadao, Ashley Hinson and Don Bacon.
The ads criticized the members and “highlight votes taken by House Republicans to raise grocery prices and cut health care in order to bankroll tax giveaways for the ultra-rich, urging constituents to call on their Members of Congress to stop the bill now,” the group said in a press release about the ads.
The Democratic group also dings these Republicans for supporting President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“There’s one person who thinks everything in your life should cost more… It’s your Congressman, Rob Bresnahan,” one of the digital ads shared with NOTUS says. “First, he backed the tariffs causing prices to soar. Now he’s sticking you with an even bigger bill. He just cast the deciding vote to raise the cost of your groceries and cut your health care including Medicaid… To pay for tax cuts for the ultra-rich.”
“You can’t afford Representative Rob Bresnahan’s votes in Congress. Tell him to stop this bill now,” the ad concludes.
A spokesperson for Bresnahan told NOTUS the congressman is “proud to stand up for the hardworking people of Northeastern Pennsylvania, not to bankroll benefits for criminal illegal immigrants or able-bodied adults who refuse to work.”
“This ad is a pathetic sign of desperation from the party that’s been asleep at the wheel and knows Rob Bresnahan is delivering,” Hannah Pope, Bresnahan’s spokesperson, said in the statement. “Unlike Washington Democrats, the American people overwhelmingly support common-sense reforms and Rob is proud to stand with them.”
The “one big, beautiful bill” that House Republicans passed last week cuts at least $715 billion from Medicaid, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before additional Medicaid cuts were made in the legislation.
According to that initial CBO estimate, at least 8.6 million people are projected to lose Medicaid coverage by 2034, in addition to another 5 million people who were already estimated to lose coverage over expiring tax provisions.
The ads come as Democrats look to make the reconciliation bill as politically unpopular as possible — just as the Senate begins to debate and amend the legislation.
Democrats would, of course, love to halt the bill in the Senate and strip away some of the most damaging provisions to Medicaid. But short of actually influencing the policy, Democrats already seem intent on making the reconciliation bill a main issue in the 2026 midterms.
“While Democrats are fighting to cut costs and protect health care, Republicans are giving handouts to the ultra-rich and hoping their constituents won’t notice. The list of Republican broken promises continues to grow,” Katarina Flicker, a spokesperson for House Majority Forward, said in a statement.
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Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS.