Democrats are weighing impeachment of RFK Jr. while courting his supporters

Detailed summary

When Democrats take over Congress in January, one of their many oversight targets will be Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose overhaul of longstanding vaccine ...

NEW YORK (AP) — When Democrats take over Congress in January, one of their many oversight targets will be Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose overhaul of longstanding vaccine guidance and cuts to medical research over the past two years have drawn fiery criticism. Some high-ranking lawmakers have suggested impeaching him.

But those efforts could conflict with another growing priority for many lawmakers on the left: nurturing areas of common ground with Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again followers with the aim of securing their political support.

It could prove a difficult balance, since many MAHA activists whom Democrats are courting as part of their new coalition still view Kennedy as their closest ally.

“It’s an unenviable position for Democrats to be in,” said Matt Motta, a professor at Boston University School of Public Health. In addition to treading carefully not to upset MAHA voters, Motta said, the lawmakers will also have to answer to a left-leaning base that wants more accountability from Kennedy on vaccines as measles outbreaks surge around the country.

Some members of the MAHA movement said they’re eager to work with Democrats to pass legislation on shared interests, like regulating pesticides and making school lunches healthier. But extensive investigations into Kennedy, or hostility toward him, could complicate those collaborations.

“I’m not saying that the Democratic leadership can’t continue to have an irrational war on Secretary Kennedy until they collapse,” said Mark Gorton, president of the Kennedy-aligned MAHA Institute. “But when they do that, they alienate all the MAHA voters out there, the people who really care about fighting corporate capture.”

Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat before running for president as an independent in 2024 and then throwing his support behind President Donald Trump’s campaign, has repeatedly clashed with his former party since joining the Trump administration.

Democrats have assailed his Health and Human Services…

Th…

Opening of the article, excerpted from Toronto Star. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.