Senate Republicans fear Trump is handing Dems a major weapon to use against them

When Donald Trump called for overturning the Affordable Care act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare, in a November 2023 post on Truth Social, Democrats and the Biden campaign were quick to attack.

Health care is an issue that worked really well for Democrats in the 2018 midterms, when they recaptured the U.S. House of Representatives with a net gain of 40 seats. Obamacare, which has enjoyed record enrollment in 2024 under President Joe Biden, is viewed favorably by 59 percent of Americans in a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll released in February.

Obamacare is a fight that Biden and other Democrats are anxious to have in 2024. But according to The Hill's Alexander Bolton, Senate Republicans would rather avoid the issue — and wish Trump would avoid it as well.

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In an article published on March 18, Bolton reports, "Democrats plan to shine a spotlight on Trump's recent declaration that Republicans shouldn't give up their quest to repeal the Affordable Care Act — part of an effort to help counter an unfavorable Senate battleground map in this year's election."

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed no desire to battle Democrats on Obamacare again, telling The Hill, "It seems to me that's largely over."

In late 2017, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was among the three Republicans who joined Senate Democrats in voting against a bill to repeal Obamacare; the others were Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona).

Murkowski told The Hill, "People have moved to a different place. If you were to walk into the room and say my No. 1 priority is to repeal and replace Obamacare, I think you're going to have half the people say, 'What? Why? Huh?' It is not the rallying cry it once was. Let's not walk that plank again."

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Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-South Dakota) also believes that Obamacare is likely permanent.

Thune told The Hill, "The Affordable Care Act, at least in a lot of the provisions, is probably, whether we like it or not, here to stay."

Meanwhile, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Michigan) is hoping to see Trump and Biden debating health care — as he believes the issue "will help us paint a very clear contrast of where the Biden Administration has been and where they will be versus the former president."

Peters told The Hill, "Health care continues to be a challenge for many families. Having access to affordable health care is absolutely critical, and so when you have the former president talking about repealing legislation that has helped hundreds of thousands families all across the country and in my state, it's something that should be talked about."

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Read The Hill's full report at this link.