“Republican Strategists” Privately Admit “Health Care is a Losing Issue for Them”
“Jill Schupp is giving Rep. Ann Wagner the challenge of her political career” by running on access to health care, contrasting herself with Wagner’s disastrous record on the issue.
Wagner has voted five times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would gut protections for pre-existing conditions, and still supports a partisan lawsuit to dismantle the law, despite our country being in the midst of a pandemic with Missouri experiencing a large surge in positive cases.
National Journal: Despite misgivings, Republicans campaign on health care
Kirk Bado
- Privately, some Republicans are worried that if the 2020 race for the House is decided on health care, then their already narrow path back to power might be cut off, according to interviews conducted by National Journal.
- In August, the state expanded Medicaid eligibility through a ballot measure, with support from voters in suburban “areas that have been voting in support of Republicans for more than a decade,” according to the Kansas City Star.
- “We knew health care was an important issue before the pandemic,” Schupp said in an interview with National Journal last week. “The difference between Ann Wagner and me is that she voted against the Affordable Care Act time after time and continues to support the lawsuit to undo the ACA, even during the pandemic.”
- Republican strategists working with competitive campaigns who spoke with National Journal said that ultimately, health care is a losing issue for them.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare a sticking point for Democrats in Wagner-Schupp race
Nassim Benchaabane
- Health care, especially the future of the Affordable Care Act, has emerged as a leading issue in the hotly contested 2nd Congressional District, where challenger Jill Schupp accuses U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner of seeking to eliminate protections for people with preexisting conditions …
- In an ad aired earlier this month, Schupp slammed Wagner for voting to “gut protections for preexisting conditions” by voting several times with fellow Republicans in Congress to reverse the ACA — also known as “Obamacare” after former President Barack Obama — and to support a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn the law.
- […S]upport for coverage protecting preexisting conditions has only increased, said Liz Hamel, director of public opinion research at the Kaiser Family Foundation. A national poll by the foundation in July found that a majority of Americans want to preserve protections for preexisting conditions, even if the ACA is struck down.
- In the Aug. 4 primary, 53% percent of Missouri voters chose to expand Medicaid under a provision of the ACA that allowed states to expand who can get the coverage, joining 37 other states and the District of Columbia that voted for expansions.
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