New reporting is highlighting how Rob Wittman’s vote for devastating health care cuts could cost him his seat in November.
NOTUS reports that Wittman lied to Virginians when he initially promised he would not support steep health care cuts:
“Wittman, a ten-term Republican, told party leadership last summer that he wouldn’t support the “One Big Beautiful Bill” because of its sweeping cuts to Medicaid, a program one in eight of his constituents rely on for coverage. But ultimately, he did.”
Now, NOTUS reports that Virginians are souring on Wittman as a result:
“I see him gradually resented more and more,” Michael Hill, a 72-year-old retired teacher from Chesterfield, said of Wittman. “I just feel like, at this point, you might be persuaded to move in a different way.”
Read more for yourself:
- Democrats think they can flip a President Donald Trump-supporting congressional district blue. Their message: The incumbent, Virginia Rep. Rob Wittman, voted to cut Medicaid.
- Wittman, a ten-term Republican, told party leadership last summer that he wouldn’t support the “One Big Beautiful Bill” because of its sweeping cuts to Medicaid, a program one in eight of his constituents rely on for coverage. But ultimately, he did.
- Shannon Taylor, the Democratic candidate who secured a spot on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” list, said his about-face should be “the No. 1 issue” on voters’ minds as they head to the polls in November.
- “Wittman knew that voting for that budget bill was going to be cutting health care services and that’s exactly what’s happened,” Taylor, a county prosecutor, told NOTUS. “He owns that responsibility, and that’s what we’re out there telling people. We are letting them know that these terrible choices that they’re being faced with day in and day out are his responsibility.”
- It’s a contest taking shape around the future of health care, and particularly Virginia’s rural hospitals. Three such clinics shuttered last year in Virginia, directly citing the One Big Beautiful Bill as a reason. A state legislative committee deemed that 13 more hospitals risk the same fate, though the two in Wittman’s district have no immediate plans to close.
- “These policy changes risk shifting care from lower-cost preventive services toward higher-cost emergency and inpatient care, which is not the best outcome for patients or the healthcare system,” a spokesperson for Augusta Health, which operated the three shuttered rural clinics, told NOTUS in a statement.
- Hospitals have to provide emergency care regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. About 13% of Augusta Health’s patients are covered by Medicaid, meaning the company expects to see more uncompensated care.
- Virginia’s rural health providers are waiting until later this year to assess how much damage Medicaid cuts will do, but they’re not feeling optimistic. More than 160,000 Virginians are expected to lose coverage.
- The $50 billion rural health fund aimed to move rural hospitals away from reimbursement-based funding, as that model works better in urban areas with more patients. But while any funding for rural healthcare is welcome, providers said they don’t see it as a solution.
- “There are so many parts of the Big Beautiful Bill that made things less affordable for people,” Jen Tierney, chair of the Historic Triangle Democrats, told NOTUS. “We have rural hospitals in the 1st Congressional District that are at risk because of those cuts, so it is hard to find a person who is not impacted in some way.”
- Republicans have known the political implications of cutting Medicaid for a while. Most adults report some kind of connection to the program, according to the health policy research organization KFF. Politico found that 11 Republicans in competitive seats represent larger-than-average Medicaid populations.
- “I see him gradually resented more and more,” Michael Hill, a 72-year-old retired teacher from Chesterfield, said of Wittman. “I just feel like, at this point, you might be persuaded to move in a different way.”
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