Senate Democrats are still in the Capitol, but their campaign arm is already gearing up to hit Republicans on the Medicaid cuts the GOP implemented through reconciliation.
According to a memo exclusively obtained by NOTUS, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will announce on Wednesday a lineup of August press conferences focused on Medicaid in five battleground states. The events will center around the 60th anniversary of Medicaid, and hit Republicans for the recent Medicaid cuts in the reconciliation bill.
That bill, which narrowly passed the House and Senate in early July, included more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid. And Democrats plan to define the legislation through those cuts.
“This bill will be an electoral albatross for every Republican senator and candidate who supported it, and voters will hold them accountable in 2026,” Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the DSCC, said in a press release shared with NOTUS.
The states the campaign is focusing on are Georgia, Michigan, Maine, Iowa and New Hampshire, with Democrats tipping their hand on where they are playing defense — and where they think they may have a shot to pull off an upset in 2026.
Most notable among the states where Democrats are hitting Republicans is Iowa. Sen. Joni Ernst, who has not announced whether she is officially running for reelection, sparked outrage in May when she seemed not to care about the life-or-death effects of Medicaid cuts on her constituents.
“Well, we are all going to die,” Ernst said.
In each state, Democratic leaders, local elected officials, advocates and people affected by Medicaid cuts will appear at the press conferences and talk about the GOP’s record on Medicaid.
The plans for programming come as senators try to finish up their last week of work before leaving on a monthlong recess. That valuable campaign time at home will give Republicans a chance to message on the reconciliation bill. But whether senators will be leaving by the end of the week remains to be seen.
Democrats and Republicans have yet to strike a deal on resolving the backlog of 100-some of President Donald Trump’s nominees. Republican leaders are threatening to hold senators in Washington until they do, while Democrats insist on giving each and every nominee a cloture and confirmation vote.