Key facts
- Lyons said MAHA will partner with politicians from any party who will work with the movement.
- Lyons said Democrats must abandon efforts to remove Kennedy and address his points instead.
- Lyons in September called Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez not an ally and a double-talking politician.
- MAHA committees endorsed and supported only Republicans before the elections.
- Iowa Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn lost to Democrat Rob Sand.
Tony Lyons, who runs several Make America Healthy Again political committees and is an ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said on November 4 that the movement must work with anyone who shares its goals. Speaking on a virtual call with supporters, he said MAHA would partner with companies, politicians from any party, activists and supporters across the country.
Lyons had previously encouraged MAHA supporters to back only Republicans to shore up Kennedy's alliance with President Trump. His committees endorsed and supported only Republicans ahead of the elections. In September he dismissed Democratic outreach, saying of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: "She is not our ally."
After the midterm elections on November 3, Lyons did not reject Democratic cooperation outright. He said Democrats must stop trying to get rid of Kennedy and instead address the points he raised, adding he was open to the possibility they mean what they have said.
MAHA-aligned Republican politicians lost in Iowa, Texas and Kansas. The most significant defeat, the report said, came in Iowa, where Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn lost to Democrat Rob Sand. Kennedy and MAHA groups had invested time and money promoting Lahn, who vowed to ban COVID-19 vaccines and school vaccine mandates and to regulate chemicals.
Some Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, ran on a "Building a Healthier America" agenda covering pesticide accountability, removing toxic chemicals from food and water, and breaking up "Big Ag" monopolies.