| New reporting from Politico reveals how vulnerable Republican Mike Lawler’s cowardly vote to rip health care away from his own constituents in the Big, Ugly Bill is set to define “one of the most-watched House races in the country.”
Lawler is being “bombarded by attacks” over his vote for the largest Medicaid cut in American history, gutting nearly $1 trillion from the critical program that millions of families depend on, and “the pressure is only expected to intensify.”
According to Politico, “the issue is especially sensitive in Lawler’s Hudson Valley district,” where roughly 14,000 residents lost access to their health insurance on July 1st and nine hospitals in the region rely on Medicaid and Medicare for more than 40 percent of their revenue — putting local health care jobs and facilities directly in the crosshairs of Lawler’s vote.
Health care has historically been an “Achilles’ heel” for Republicans in close races, and with more than 70% of Americans “very concerned about health care costs,” Lawler has every reason to be worried after breaking his repeated promises to Hudson Valley families that he would protect their care.
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“Mike Lawler sealed his political fate when he lied to New Yorkers and rubberstamped Trump’s toxic agenda to obliterate local hospital funding, kill Hudson Valley health care jobs, and kick his own constituents off their health care to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. He might as well start packing his bags now.”
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- One of the most-watched House races in the country is setting the stage for how Democrats and Republicans will battle over federal health care cuts on the campaign trail.
- Swing seat GOP Rep. Mike Lawler, facing a tough reelection campaign against a moderate Democratic opponent, is being bombarded by attacks over his vote for President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package, which cut Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over a decade.
- The pressure is only expected to intensify. His general election foe Cait Conley, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a constellation of allied super PACs are ready to hammer Lawler over the issue as he runs for a third term in the highly competitive suburban New York House district.
- The House Democrats’ campaign arm plans to blast Lawler over the expected fallout from the spending changes, including millions of people losing insurance coverage, health care job cuts and the loss of local hospital funding. Battleground New York, a labor-aligned super PAC whose backers include the health care union 1199SEIU, accused Lawler of having “ripped health care away from thousands of families in his one district to bankroll another round of tax cuts for the wealthy.”
- The issue is especially sensitive in Lawler’s Hudson Valley district, where roughly 14,000 residents lost access to New York’s Essential Plan on July 1 after the federal government narrowed eligibility to the low-cost public health plan. The region is also home to nine hospitals that each receive more than 40 percent of their revenue from Medicaid and Medicare, according to the Health Care Association of New York State.
- How Lawler parries these attacks will set the tone, and potentially lay out a playbook, for Republicans across the country on health care costs — an issue where his party has traditionally struggled with voters. Lawler’s race is among a handful in the country that are expected to determine which party controls the narrowly divided House and the fate of Trump’s final two years in office.
- More than 70 percent of Americans are very concerned about health care costs — higher than for any other area — according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted earlier this year. Conley’s campaign plans to make the issue a key component of her campaign to unseat Lawler.
- “Mike Lawler voted with Donald Trump for the largest gutting of Medicaid in history and to restrict Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower prescription prices, and now hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are getting kicked off their health care while monthly premiums are skyrocketing,” she said in a statement. “The Hudson Valley is sick of career political operatives and lobbyists like Lawler getting rich working for their party bosses and drug and insurance industry donors, while families get stuck with higher costs.”
- Health care has been an Achilles’ heel for Republicans in close races, and Democrats in the past have effectively wielded the issue as a cudgel amid the decadelong efforts to roll back Obamacare provisions. Their push to repeal the landmark health care law during the first Trump administration sparked massive blowback and helped Democrats flip 41 seats and win the House in 2018.
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