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WASHINGTON – The Democrats' plan to resume the House of Representatives in November is about health care. The unpopularity of Republican plans to replace Obamacare, combined with ever-increasing healthcare costs, has resulted in a barrage of Democratic ads on the protection of patients with pre-existing conditions and Medicaid's expansion.
This health care strategy all the time could find its most severe test in Michigan's 6th district, where a Democratic doctor has the opportunity to defeat the man who saved the repealing efforts of his family. Obamacare of the GOP in the spring of 2017.
Rep. Fred Upton (right) presents for his 16th term, representing a district centered on Kalmazoo and covering most of the southwestern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Upton, a moderate parent whom an ally described as possessing a "Midwest nerdy charisma", first opposed the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. But he then revitalized the proposal, protecting it from defeat by crafting a compromise that he said would better protect people with pre-existing health problems from the loss of Medicare. (Democrats and experts do not agree.)
The democrat who seeks to eliminate him is Matt Longjohn, doctor and former national health director for the YMCA, whom the Obama administration has named as one of the country's leading innovators in care for his work on diabetes prevention.
Unsurprisingly, Longjohn focuses on health care – and Upton's role in repealing Obamacare's removal from the House. (This failed in the Senate, thanks to John McCain's negative vote late at night.)
"He not only voted for the protection of pre-existing conditions, he added his name," said Longjohn about the Upton amendment. "He sided with the donors and the big companies. He never proposed solutions. "
Upton has been in the House of Commons since 1987, and the general public may know him better as the uncle of model Kate Upton. In Congress, however, he is considered a political survivor and a bipartisan negotiator, known as the former chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Trade. His district is not predominantly Republican – GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney narrowly won in 2012 – but Upton never won less than 55 percent of the vote.
But there are signs that this race is more competitive. While major outside Democratic and Republican groups have remained out of the way, a super PAC controlled by House Speaker Paul Ryan's allies has earmarked $ 400,000 of television time for television. during the last two weeks of the poll. And Longjohn released an internal poll setting it down just five percentage points last month.
Smaller democratic groups are attacking Upton following his vote on health care and trying to persuade the district residents to no longer trust their longtime MP.
"Congressman Upton – for whom I had already voted – has directed the prosecution to repeal health care and protections for pre-existing conditions," said a woman named Kim. , of St. Joseph, in a Change.org ad. "It could be disastrous for families like mine."
But these ads are overturned by an announcement from the American Hospital Association, which airs Upton's stimulating ads even though they have formally opposed his amendment and all of the GOP's efforts to repeal the Obamacare law.
The commercials, which Upton praised as "one of the health leaders in America" and focus on his work on mental health issues and the opioid epidemic, are supported by a television purchase of $ 300,000, according to a source of media monitoring. The implication of the AHA has provoked murmurs among the Democrats.
"Abandoning a lot of money to improve the GOP Congressman's medical record that has been repealed is a sad reminder that the health sector is more concerned with their profits than its patients," said a Democratic agent who worked a lot on health care during this cycle. and asked anonymity not to aggravate the powerful lobby. "Launching commercials to reinvent Fred Upton as a good health care leader would be like running ads that reinvent Donald Trump as spokesman for Jenny Craig."
Longjohn offered a similar explanation: "I will say that we must recognize that the US health care system has nonprofit and for-profit institutions," he said. "The tax bill was very friendly to big business."
Marie Johnson, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, offered an explanation in a line in an email: "Rep. Upton has been instrumental in improving access to mental health services and working beyond the party's borders to address the opioid crisis and to reduce the high prices of opioids. drugs. "
Upton's allies focus on Longjohn's skills, noting that he is not licensed to practice medicine in Michigan, even though he has a medical degree.
"If Longjohn is ready to run a false day, where will he draw the line?", Said Sarah Anderson, Michigan GOP chief of staff, at the Detroit Free Press. "Southwestern Michigan deserves to be represented by a leader who tells the truth. Not someone who is willing to say anything to win elections. "
Upton also broadcasts spots that attack Longjohn as a puppet of Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, saying it would "tarnish Pelosi's liberal agenda."
The Longjohn campaign insists that the attacks are a sign that Upton is worried about the race, noting that Upton had not become negative against his opponents in the past.
The Upton campaign, meanwhile, says there is nothing to see here.
"Fred has a long history of bipartite health care," said campaign director Nate Henschel, highlighting Upton's work to expand the child health insurance program and reduce regulation on the industry. pharmaceutical. "We are really happy with our campaign."
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