More than half of MAHA’s 24 endorsed candidates lost in the midterms — and 41% of Americans still back the movement

Detailed summary

A May 2026 poll conducted by the health policy organization KFF found that 41% of American adults supported MAHA, including many Democrats and independents.

Candidates tied to the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement suffered a series of electoral defeats in the 2026 midterm elections, raising questions about MAHA’s political future.

Despite its name, MAHA has become a controversial force in American health politics. While the movement calls for healthier food, increased physical activity and greater corporate transparency, prominent figures within it have also challenged established scientific evidence, especially on vaccines.

Some commentators and critics have described the defeat of MAHA-aligned candidates like Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn as a “brutal election night wipeout.” Others have asked whether MAHA is “dying.”

Yet many Americans still support MAHA and the policies it champions. Its supporters also continue to hold powerful positions in the Trump administration – like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, and Kyle Diamantas, acting commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – even as a new Congress prepares to take office in January 2027.

We are political scientists who study public opinion on healthcare policy. We see MAHA’s electoral losses as a political setback, not a death sentence. The movement’s influence extends beyond its candidates and the elections they contest.

MAHA’s electoral losses came amid a potentially generational swing toward Democrats across the country,

More than half the 24 gubernatorial and Congressional candidates endorsed by MAHA’s political action committee, MAHA Action, lost their election bids. These included Lahn, Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton and House candidate Vic Mellor in Rhode Island. Others, like incumbent Representative Anna Paulina Luna, R-FL, won by less than 1% in a district that she won by nearly 10 percentage points in 2024.

Lahn’s defeat stands out as a major loss. Lahn, a farmer who railed against pesticides on the campaign trail and promised to ban COVID-19…

But…

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