With the midterms days away, hosts Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson are joined by Jeff Timmer, former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, chief operating officer of the Lincoln Project, and co-host of A Republic, If You Can Keep It. Together, we look at how Tuesday’s results could reshape American healthcare policy.
Jeff predicts a repudiation of the Republican Party, describing it as less a blue wave than a “red undertow” driven by anger at Trump, and warns Democrats not to overplay their hand. The conversation then turns to the issue voters keep raising: cost. A new Detroit News poll finds that for a plurality of Michigan voters, paying for health insurance and medical care now outranks gas and groceries, and Jeff shares what his own family’s premiums and deductibles run him each month. They also discuss a September poll showing 62% of Michigan respondents favorable toward Medicare for All, and how Abdul El-Sayed has pitched healthcare reform as pro-small-business.
From there, we work through the races to watch. In Michigan, Mike Rogers and John James lean on base turnout and RFK Jr.’s visit to West Michigan, which we say was more about stoking bigotry than healthcare.
In Kansas, Sen. Roger Marshall faces a late-campaign controversy over a $250,000 investment in a cancer-drug company, a stock-disclosure filing that came in months past the legal deadline, and a hometown mayor who says he no longer lives in the state.
In South Carolina, Dr. Annie Andrews is polling neck and neck with Lindsey Graham in a state Trump carried by almost 18 points. And in Mississippi, a tight Senate race could revive the conversation about Medicaid expansion.
We also make the case that state legislatures and governors’ races, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Minnesota, are where a mandate on prescription drug costs, public options, and coverage expansion could take shape, and why newly empowered Democrats will need to deliver quickly.
LINKS
Jeff Timmer limbering up his gloating muscles on X
AP: FACT FOCUS: Kennedy’s claim that Arabs ‘don’t produce science’ meets a Nobel Prize reality check
The New York Times: Kennedy Makes Bigoted Remarks About Arabs at Michigan Campaign Event
NBC News: RFK Jr. faces widespread rebuke over his anti-Arab remarks
The Detroit News: More Michigan voters concerned about medical costs than gas, groceries
HealthInsurance.org: Health insurance premium increases for 2027: Proposed rates by state and what consumers should know
KFF Health News: Job-Based Health Plan Costs Rise, With Little Relief in Sight
Healthcare Dive: Insurers want to hike small businesses’ premiums by 14% next year
Government Executive: Federal employees’ health insurance premiums to rise by double digits for third straight year
The Commonwealth Fund: The State of Health Insurance Coverage in 2026
Popular Information: Marshall purchased stock in obscure pharma company just before it secured key FDA approval
The Kansas City Star: In Sen. Roger Marshall’s longtime home of Great Bend, public support is lukewarm
The Committee’s Roger Marshall website: Committeetoprotectpac.org/dr-debt
The New York Times: The Senate Race in Heavily Republican South Carolina Is a Tossup, Poll Finds
South Carolina Policy Council: The South Carolina Policy Council 2026 Fall Poll
Silver Bulletin: FLIPR 2026 midterm election forecast
Annie for US Senate: Healthcare is a Right, Not a Privilege
The American Prospect: South Carolina Senate Hopeful Runs on Health Care Populism
AXIOS: Senate GOP to send $5m to shore up Graham in South Carolina
Jeff Timmer on X
A Republic, If You Can Keep It podcast with Jeff Timmer and Mark Brewer
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