CNN
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As Democrats rush to define President Donald Trump’s domestic policy and immigration law, a handful of liberal candidates are relying on their personal experiences with programs facing key cuts to highlight the broad scope of the legislation and target Republicans who voted for it.
Randy Villegas, who is challenging California Republican Rep. David Valadao in a district with one of the country’s highest concentrations of Medicaid recipients, said that the program covered his mother’s prenatal care when he was born. Arizona’s JoAnna Mendoza credits government assistance programs for allowing her to serve her country as a Marine.
And one district over from Mendoza, 25-year-old first-time candidate Deja Foxx leads with her backstory as the daughter of a single mom to distinguish herself ahead of a July 15 Democratic primary.
“I have lived the policies people in DC debate,” Foxx told CNN in an interview. “I have a different sense of understanding and urgency.”
For Democrats, tapping into the personal stories of people impacted by policies they oppose is a familiar strategy. They’re hoping to make Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” a political albatross for the GOP by challenging the Republican argument that those affected by cuts are either refusing to work, committing fraud or living in the US without authorization.
Mendoza, who is running against two-term Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani, said government aid was critical for her parents, both farmworkers.
“I think what pisses me off the most and what really upsets me is that there is this sentiment that somehow people want to be on these programs,” she told CNN. “I know for a fact how devastated and how embarrassed my parents must have felt having to go in and ask for assistance because they couldn’t provide for their family. I think about that now as a parent.”
She said her campaign has started holding listening sessions in the district to contrast with Ciscomani, who she argued has not made himself accessible to constituents. Ciscomani’s office did not respond to requests for comment. In response to protests calling on him to hold more town halls earlier this year, the congressman told a local news outlet KGUN9 in April that he has attended events in the district and held a telephone town hall.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Democrats leaned on reproductive rights storytellers who shared their experiences of receiving delayed treatment for miscarriages or unviable pregnancies to highlight the impact of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
The strategy helped highlight the issue, but the economy ultimately far outweighed abortion when it came to the issues that mattered most to how people voted for president – 32% to 14% – according to CNN exit polls.
As Democrats seek to reverse Trump’s gains with working-class voters, they have emphasized that the bill’s reductions in social safety net programs helped fund the extension of tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
“We need a strong economic populist message that says these billionaires don’t give a shit about you,” Villegas said.
Meanwhile, Republicans are also rushing to frame how Americans perceive the new law. The House GOP’s campaign arm said in a memo released after final passage that they had voted to provide border security funding, prevent a tax hike and “crack down on welfare fraud and restore integrity to Medicaid.”
“Today, (Democrats) handed Republicans a weapon to cement the party’s image as out of touch with hardworking Americans: Democrats are not fighting for them,” the National Republican Congressional Committee memo reads
Only one House Republican in a competitive district voted against the bill: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
GOP lawmakers have argued the changes will help sustain the programs for those who need them most and say it will only push able-bodied adults back into the workforce. Democrats and health policy experts, however, warn that the requirements will primarily kick off people who qualify for the benefits but struggle to frequently verify their eligibility.
An estimated 11.8 million people could lose access to Medicaid coverage under the new law over the next decade, according to an analysis by health care policy site KFF, primarily due to new work requirements for some adults and the repeal of Biden administration rules that simplified eligibility screenings. The work requirement mandates people who don’t qualify for exemptions work or volunteer 80 hours a month.
The legislation also puts new work requirements on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps, on parents with children older than seven and adults ages 55-64. Those rules, as well as provisions that require states to share more of the program’s cost, could put assistance for millions at risk.
“Republicans don’t typically run for office defending entitlement programs,” said Rob Stutzman, a California-based Republican strategist. “I think it’s a tough central message for any candidate.”
Now that the bill has been signed into law, Stutzman said Republicans have an opportunity both highlight popular provisions in the bill, such a provision allowing workers to deduct up to $25,000 in tips from their taxes, and frame the Medicaid changes as a return to pre-Biden era policy. In California, specifically, Republicans can point to state leaders cutting Medicaid benefits for undocumented migrants in a recent budget.
“If I’m a Republican candidate, I’m saying ‘Great, that program still exists for your parents, because your parents were able-bodied and working,” Stutzman said. “We want to make sure that this program is being applied to people like your parents and not people that are not seeking work in order to maintain this health care benefit.”
Democrats, however, argue that it’s working people who will fall through the cracks under the new requirements. Noah Widmann, a candidate in Florida’s 7th Congressional District, is running against GOP Rep. Cory Mills. Widmann has talked about benefitting from both food stamps and Medicaid growing up and described work requirements as “red tape that make it tough for people that are eligible” to get care.
“At the end of the day – even if it happens to one family – if one family is having their health care and their food ripped away from them, it’s wrong,” he said.
