Democrats hope Republicans just sealed their midterm election fates by voting for Trump's 'beautiful' bill

Boston Globe

04-07-2025

'We heard from Mark from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,' Jeffries said. 'Mark says, 'I've collected Medicaid and [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits for over a decade now… SNAP and Social Security benefits have been life-saving for me; they literally keep me alive.'
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'Mark lives in Pennsylvania's First Congressional District,' continued Jeffries. 'I believe that district is represented by our colleague, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick.'
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And on and on Jeffries went, until he mentioned virtually every GOP member whom Democrats hope to defeat — an uncommon display of political name-checking by the staid standards of the House chamber.
If it were not clear when Jeffries started talking, it was painfully obvious by the time he wrapped up: Democrats are treating President Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' as the foundation of their case to take back majorities in Congress next year.
'This bill is an attack on Americans' financial freedom and Democrats are going to make it a centerpiece of the midterms,' said Representative Jake Auchincloss of Newton, before taking a position behind Jeffries Thursday morning as his speech extended into a sixth hour.
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Some believe the vote could be as catastrophic for Republicans as their move in Trump's first term to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which helped fuel a Democratic wave in the 2018 midterm elections. According to Congress' nonpartisan budget analyst, the GOP bill could result in
Representative Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, said Jeffries likely made his stand in order to mark the vote as the most decisive of this era,
much like the failed vote in 2017 to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act or even the 2010 vote that created it.
'I'm trying to think if there's been a more consequential vote in my 10 years?' Beyer said. 'I don't think so.'
Republicans largely rejected those comparisons, arguing the legislation accomplished what goals voters sent them to Washington to do: cut taxes and drastically increase money spent on immigration enforcement.
Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee said the bill would 'absolutely not' harm the GOP's midterm hopes. Referring to its proposed tightening of work requirements for public benefits, he said, 'everybody in America wants somebody able-bodied to get off their butts and get a job if they're able to and get off of welfare, and this provides that incentive.'
But there were flashes of candor from GOP lawmakers that they understood the potential political peril presented by the bill — even if they voted for it.
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The majority is 'always at risk in a midterm year,' said GOP Representative Don Bacon, who represents a Nebraska swing district but recently announced his retirement. While the tax cut provisions will be helpful, he admitted 'the other side's going to use Medicaid as an issue' and said the Senate version of the legislation, which makes deeper cuts to the federal program to insure low-income Americans, would make their attacks easier.
'So I think that was a mistake,' he said. (Bacon voted for the legislation.)
The bill
Already, the electoral environment for House Republicans heading into 2026 leaves little room for error: Democrats need to flip just three seats
in the chamber to claim a majority, and the party is targeting three-dozen incumbent Republicans to reach that threshold.
The House GOP, meanwhile,
In the Senate, Democrats' hopes are dimmer due to the rotation of seats up for election and the GOP's larger 53 to 47 majority. Just two seats held by Republicans are considered competitive: Maine and North Carolina. Democrats will be defending seats in the tough battlegrounds of Georgia, Michigan, and New Hampshire.
North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who was highly critical of the bill and under considerable heat from Trump, announced he would retire just before voting against the legislation.
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It was a different story in the House. All
The midterms may seem far off, but the election politicking around the bill began well before Jeffries stepped onto the floor for his marathon speech.
As House Democrats prepared Wednesday for the final votes, dozens gathered on the Capitol steps to decry the legislation and lay the blame on vulnerable Republicans.
'Why would anyone vote for this dangerous and extreme bill?' Jeffries asked, before name-checking a freshman Republican. 'Why would Rob Bresnahan vote for this bill? More than 30,000 people would lose access to their health care in his community in Pennsylvania.'
Democrats were trying to pressure those Republicans to vote against the bill, but also were laying down markers for their 2026 target list.
In addition to Bresnahan, who represents a swing district in northeast Pennsylvania, Jeffries spoke of Representative Scott Perry from a nearby district. The next speaker, Representative Katherine Clark of Revere, called out two California Republicans: David Valadao and Young Kim.
Finally Democratic Representative Pete Aguilar of California singled out another endangered Republican from a blue state, Gabe Evans of Colorado.
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'Today marks the culmination of Donald Trump's betrayal of working people across this country,' Aguilar said, with words that sounded straight from an attack ad.
In the long lead-up to Thursday's vote, Democrats' outside political committees began laying the groundwork for the midterm battles ahead.
House Majority Forward, the super PAC aligned with Jeffries, was developing TV ads before the vote took place, focusing particularly on Bresnahan and Representatives Tom Barrett of Michigan and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.
House Majority Forward spokesperson, CJ Warnke, said House Republicans were 'throwing away their spines and throwing their constituents under the bus' with their votes.
Republicans, meanwhile, plan to go on offense against vulnerable Democrats who voted against the bill. In a statement, National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O'Toole accused Representative Jared Golden, who represents a Republican-leaning Maine district, of voting to 'raise taxes, kill jobs, and gut national security. Voters won't forget it, not now, not next November.' (Golden has been outspoken about his opposition to the bill, saying it provides 'huge tax breaks' for the wealthy, 'paid for by cutting health care for the working poor.')
An NRCC campaign memo shared with the Globe previewed its campaign messaging around the bill, arguing it prevented a massive tax hike and delivered on promises to secure the border. It also framed the changes to Medicaid as moves to 'crack down on welfare fraud and restore integrity.'
Many Republicans emphasized the extension of Trump's first-term tax cuts, which account for trillions of dollars of the cost of the legislation, or smaller-scale new tax breaks, such as one to let taxpayers deduct a limited amount of tipped wages from their taxable income.
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'The economy is going to do well, and people are going to be happy,' said Representative Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican. 'They really are.'
As Jeffries closed his speech before the ultimately successful vote, however, a new slogan emerged to add a layer of ominousness to GOP plans.
'After Project 2025,' the Democratic leader said, referring to the conservative-backed plan to scale back government under Trump, 'comes Project 2026.'
Tal Kopan of Globe staff contributed to this report.
Sam Brodey can be reached at