Rfk Jr. Is Popping Up In Battleground Districts

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is turning up with regularity in the House districts that will decide the midterms.

With his visit to Charlotte, Michigan, on Tuesday to discuss his Make America Healthy Again agenda with freshman GOP Rep. Tom Barrett, Kennedy will have been in four in the last six weeks.

Last week, he toured an elder care program in Thornton, Colorado, outside Denver in the district of Republican Gabe Evans. The week before he spoke at a dairy farm in western Wisconsin about the benefits of drinking whole milk alongside Republican Derrick Van Orden. And last month he was at a Head Start provider in the Toledo, Ohio, district of Marcy Kaptur, perhaps the most embattled Democrat up for re-election.

None of the visits were for official campaign events, but all four districts are considered among the couple dozen in which both parties have a good shot to win and are likely to decide which party has the majority next year. White House aides have said they see their alliance with Kennedy, a Democrat before he teamed up with Donald Trump in 2024, as a boon to the GOP, crediting him with helping Trump win the popular vote that year. They’ve also said they hope he’ll help the party retain its congressional majorities this year.

Kennedy’s supporters in groups affiliated with his Make America Healthy Again movement have endorsed Barrett, who won his 2024 race by less than four points. His district encompasses the state capital, Lansing, and environs.

Van Orden won a second term by less than three points two years ago, while Evans, a freshman, won by less than one. Kaptur is seeking a 23rd term, but her working class district has gotten Trumpier. She also squeaked by with a less-than-one point margin in 2024.

The health secretary has used his "Take Back Your Health" tour, which he started in January, to travel across the country, touting his agenda to improve the quality of America’s food, which he says is one of the root causes of the country’s chronic disease epidemic. Polls have shown that policy to be more popular among Americans than his effort to downsize the number of vaccines the federal government recommends for children.

His tour started in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the beginning of the year, in the district of GOP Rep. Scott Perry, whose race is also a toss-up. Perry didn’t join Kennedy, who spoke alongside Republican state lawmakers.

Kennedy has also visited Nashville, Tennessee, in February, and Doswell, Virginia, a half hour’s drive north of Richmond, in June.

In February, he appeared at an event in Austin, Texas, alongside GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who is likely to keep her seat.

He also visited areas where Democrats have the edge, such as the Concord, New Hampshire, district of freshman Maggie Goodlander, in late May, to announce new initiatives to fight Lyme disease, and to the Duarte, California, district of Gil Cisneros in mid-May to talk about cancer research.