Kennedy, a longtime Democrat hailing from a famed Democratic dynasty, gave Republicans access to a new, passionate cohort of voters when he joined President Trump's 2024 campaign.
But MAHA voters are not necessarily strong Republican primary midterm voters, according to MAHA PAC spokesperson Jeff Hutt, and don't necessarily support Trump at all costs. For instance, the MAHA PAC endorsed Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who's facing a Trump-backed primary challenger in 2026.
"The Republican Party is going to have to really give those people, or express a reason to those people, why they should come out and vote, and I think that's going to be their big challenge," said Hutt.
Kennedy "has the support of the loudest voices in MAHA across the country, and they probably agree with his position on vaccines," said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who launched the Senate MAHA Caucus in 2024 shortly after Trump tapped Kennedy to lead HHS.
The Trump administration showed it recognized the importance of appealing to MAHA voters during a glitzy, invite-only "MAHA Summit" held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in November.
But while MAHA may be strongly associated with a Republican administration, many of its ideas have broad bipartisan support.
A KFF/Washington Post poll of 2,700 parents released in October found about 4 in 10 identified as supporters of the MAHA movement. That included 1 in 6 Democratic parents and one-third of independent parents, presenting a campaign wild card for this year's midterms.
At least 8 in 10 parents said they "strongly" or "somewhat" supported increasing government regulations on dyes and chemical additives in food, highly processed food, and added sugars in food. That included more than 80 percent of Republican parents.
However, both MAHA parents and non-MAHA parents overwhelmingly valued long-standing childhood vaccines. Almost 8 in 10 MAHA parents were confident in the safety of the polio and measles, mumps and rubella shots.
GOP candidates will need to thread the needle if they want in to cash in on MAHA's agenda while not pushing away parents deterred by Kennedy's long-held vaccine skepticism.
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