First on Fox: Pro-Democrat outside group targets Republican lawmakers with ‘Hands off Medicaid’ blitz

EXCLUSIVE: A leading nonprofit public advocacy group that focuses on healthcare and aligns with Democrats is launching an ad blitz targeting Republican House lawmakers as part of what it touts as its $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign.

The group, called Protect Our Care, says their push aims to expose what they say is the choice for members of Congress between protecting Medicaid “or giving away new tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.”

The media launch was shared first with Fox News on Thursday.

Protect Our Care says its ads will run on cable news in Washington, D.C., so they can target Republican congressional offices as the House GOP aims to assemble a sweeping budget resolution to pass parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

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A leading nonprofit public advocacy group that focuses on healthcare and aligns with Democrats is launching an ad blitz targeting Republican House lawmakers as part of what it touts as its $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign. (iStock)

And the spots will also run digitally in the districts of Republican Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona (AZ-01), David Valadao of California (CA-22), Young Kim of California (CA-40), Ken Calvert of California (CA-41), Nick LaLota of New York (NY-01), Andrew Garbarino of New York (NY-02), Mike Lawler of New York (NY-17), Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania (PA-07), Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania (PA-08) and Dan Newhouse of Washington state (WA-04). 

The GOP lawmakers – in competitive districts – may face difficult re-elections in the 2026 midterms as Republicans defend their current fragile majority in the chamber.

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The group says the ads will run through next week as House Republicans work to finish their budget resolution, which the group argues could lead to tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and cuts to Medicaid and other critical programs for working class and low-income people.

“It’s unfathomable why anyone would want to gut Medicaid, but Republicans are openly floating cuts to care for seniors, working people and kids., Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach charged in a statement to Fox News.

Dach claimed that “the American people overwhelmingly support Medicaid and will not stand for these extreme attempts to rip away coverage from those who need it most just to give billionaires another tax cut.”

And the narrator in one of the two commercials the group is launching asks, “Which do you think should happen? A billionaire gets a bigger yacht or this child has Medicaid to get the healthcare they need?”

“Some in Congress want to cut their care to pay for this,” the narrator argues. “Call your member of Congress. Tell them to protect Medicaid.”

As congressional Republicans aim to reduce the nation’s massive budget deficit and enact Trump’s domestic agenda, some conservative members are mulling changes to Medicaid, the nearly 60-year-old federal government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited incomes. 

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That could potentially put some congressional Republicans at odds with the new president.

Trump, on the presidential campaign trail the past two years and the past couple of weeks since returning to power in the White House, has repeatedly pledged not to cut Medicaid, except for cases of fraud and abuse.

President Donald Trump (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images)

And House Speaker Johnson has made clear he doesn’t seek to reduce any benefits.

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“We’re not talking about in any way reducing benefits,” Johnson said recently as he discussed potential changes to Medicaid, along with Medicare and Social Security. “What we’re talking about is efficiencies in the programs to make them work better for the people who receive those benefits and to make them longer lasting to sustain the programs.”

Fox News’ Kelley Phares and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.