President Donald Trump’s alliance with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement helped expand his coalition during the 2024 election. Now, as tensions emerge between the administration and some of the movement’s most vocal activists, Republicans are grappling with how much political influence the MAHA coalition actually holds ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The debate intensified after Trump signed an executive order aimed at boosting production of glyphosate, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. The move angered activists who had rallied around Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to reduce toxic exposures in food and agriculture.
At the same time, House Republicans are advancing a farm bill provision that critics say would shield pesticide manufacturers from certain lawsuits, while the Supreme Court is considering a case that could limit failure-to-warn claims against chemical companies.
Together, the developments have reignited debate within conservative circles about the size and influence of the MAHA movement. For activists inside the movement, the answer is clear.
MAHA in rude health
Kelly Ryerson, an environmental health advocate known online as “Glyphosate Girl,” said MAHA has grown into a significant political force that extends well beyond its most visible influencers.
“It’s definitely many millions of people,” Ryerson said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “Whether that’s 10 million or 20 million, I don’t know exactly. But it’s substantial.”
Ryerson said the movement’s influence largely comes from a decentralized network of social media figures who have turned once-obscure policy debates into viral political conversations.
“The fact that people are even talking about pesticide liability shields or seed oils is revolutionary,” she said. “Even two years ago, nobody would have predicted that.”
Ryerson said the movement is also attracting voters who had not previously engaged deeply with agricultural or food policy.
“People are realizing these things affect their everyday lives,” she said. “When that happens, it becomes political.”
Ryerson said politicians underestimate the political power of the movement at their own risk.
“Elected officials should be paying attention to this,” she said. “I’m surprised they’re not as much as they are. It’s going to show up at the voting.”
Zen Honeycutt, founder of the advocacy group Moms Across America, said Kennedy’s partnership with Trump helped bring millions of new voters into Republican politics in 2024.
“If those numbers were true before the election, it’s reasonable to think they’ve doubled,” she said, pointing to Kennedy’s aggressive use of social media to promote issues tied to food systems, farming, and chronic illness.
Honeycutt argued that Trump’s glyphosate executive order has unintentionally expanded awareness of the movement’s central concerns.
“The glyphosate executive order did for pesticides what the COVID vaccine mandates did for vaccines,” she said. “Suddenly, a lot more people started paying attention.”
While the decision has angered many activists, Honeycutt said the backlash has not weakened the broader movement.
“You can’t crush MAHA because you can’t crush the commitment of a parent to protect their child’s health,” she said.
Defining the MAHA coalition
The MAHA coalition itself is difficult to measure. Rather than a single organized political bloc, it includes a wide range of factions, including vaccine skeptics, regenerative agriculture advocates, environmental activists, clean food influencers, wellness entrepreneurs, and younger voters interested in issues such as fitness and hormone health. Many participants do not formally identify with the MAHA label.
But activists say they share a belief that environmental toxins, processed foods, and agricultural chemicals contribute to rising rates of chronic illness in the United States. Ryerson said that message is resonating in unexpected corners of the conservative coalition.
“There’s also this whole group of young men who are worried about things like testosterone levels and environmental toxins,” she said. “They’re switching to organic food, drinking out of glass bottles, trying to detox their environment.”
For political strategists, the movement’s electoral impact remains uncertain.
Chris Pack, a Republican strategist and former spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the movement has tapped into growing concerns among some voters about food safety and health transparency.
“There’s clearly a segment of voters who are energized by the MAHA movement and the broader conversation around food quality, public health, and transparency,” Pack said.
But he said the midterm elections will likely hinge on more traditional political issues.
“The defining issue on the ballot this November will still be affordability,” Pack said. “The affordability issue will determine whether the president can continue enacting his America First agenda with a Republican-controlled House or instead face investigations under a Democrat-controlled House.”
Republican strategist Liz Mair agreed that MAHA voters helped broaden Trump’s coalition in 2024 but cautioned against overstating their influence in upcoming elections.
“I do think they switched in meaningful numbers in 2024 and helped Trump,” Mair said. “But I don’t think they’re the reason Republicans would lose the House.”
Instead, she pointed to inflation, gas prices, and broader economic concerns as the issues most likely to shape voter behavior. Where MAHA could matter, she said, is in very close races.
“If you’re in a race decided by a few hundred votes, then sure, you don’t want voters peeling off or sitting out,” Mair said.
Still, she said the movement deserves credit for how effectively it has organized and amplified its message.
“They’re mostly noisy, but credit to them for doing a good job convincing people to pay attention,” Mair said. “They’re very good at the surround sound.”
Still, even skeptics acknowledge that MAHA has successfully pushed health issues into the center of political debate. Food dyes, pesticides, seed oils, and ultra-processed foods, topics that once lived largely within niche wellness communities, are now regularly discussed in Congress and on the campaign trail.
Rather than operating as a single voting bloc, the movement may be reshaping expectations among a segment of voters about how politicians approach issues such as food safety, corporate influence, and chronic disease.
MAHA EMERGES AS GOP 2026 ELECTION BRIGHT SPOT – WITH ONE MAJOR CAVEAT
Whether that translates into measurable electoral power in 2026 remains unclear. But the backlash to Trump’s glyphosate decision shows that MAHA activists are willing to challenge the administration publicly when they believe its policies contradict their agenda. For Honeycutt, that reflects a broader shift in American politics.
“People are no longer voting based only on party,” she said. “They’re voting based on the issues that affect their health and their families.”
