The MAHA Moms Are Falling in Line

Earlier this month, MAHA moms went to the White House. Several key figures in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement gathered around a table in the Roosevelt Room to speak with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top administration officials. The invitees—who included the health activist Kelly Ryerson, the wellness podcaster Alex Clark, and the nutritionist Courtney Swan—were all women. They’re influential among the loose coalition of Kennedy supporters known as MAHA moms, many of whom are worried about their children’s health. This was a chance for them to air their grievances with the Trump administration—which have grown in recent months. Afterward, they were ushered into the Oval Office to see President Trump, who, according to Ryerson, welcomed them as “my MAHA leaders.”

The alliance between MAHA and MAGA was always an unlikely one. Kennedy was a Democrat before his independent presidential run in 2023, and many of his priorities—such as encouraging healthy eating—have traditionally been the domain of the left. Lately, the partnership has started to fray. Core MAHA supporters were infuriated when Trump signed an executive order in February that could give liability protection to manufacturers of glyphosate, the weed killer used in Roundup that studies have linked to cancer. (Ryerson is so against the chemical that she goes by “Glyphosate Girl” on Instagram.) The movement has also been frustrated by the stalled nomination of perhaps the most famous MAHA mom, Casey Means, Trump’s pick for surgeon general, who has yet to receive a Senate confirmation vote. Means was also at the recent White House gathering, which appeared to be an attempt to smooth things over with MAHA before the midterms.

[Read: Well, that didn’t sound like Casey Means]

Not unlike the “silent majority” that pushed Richard Nixon to victory in 1972 or the Tea Party movement that ushered in the red wave during the 2010 midterms, MAHA moms have been billed as a significant factor in the upcoming election. MAHA is “central to our coalition,” Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, told us. Without the movement’s support, he believes, there’s no chance that Republicans can prevail in November. The president seems to be on the same page: “I read an article today where they think Bobby is going to be really great for the Republican Party in the midterms,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting in January, referring to the health secretary. “So, I have to be very careful that Bobby likes us.” In an email, the White House senior deputy press secretary Kush Desai told us that the administration is dedicated to delivering on the MAHA agenda. The gathering at the White House “was one of many productive engagements that the Administration has had and continues to have with the MAHA community,” he wrote.

These voters are politically desirable across party lines. Some of MAHA’s priorities—such as getting rid of petroleum-based food dyes or limiting pesticide use—are widely popular. About a third of independent parents, along with one in six Democratic parents, identify as supporters of the MAHA movement, according to a poll from last year. Many Democrats are also trying to win over disaffected MAHA moms.

The most prominent MAHA moms tend to be swing voters rather than Trump loyalists. Vani Hari, an activist known as the “Food Babe,” was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 but is now a prominent MAHA influencer (she was invited to the White House meeting but couldn’t attend). Ryerson voted for Trump because of Kennedy. “I probably wouldn’t have voted otherwise,” she told us.

But Hari and Ryerson—both of whom were health activists long before MAHA came along—may not be representative of rank-and-file voters. For this story, we spoke with several MAHA supporters, including a documentarian who had worked on anti-vaccine films, moms with a parenting podcast, and an Instagram influencer who told us about her four-ingredient recipe for homemade Goldfish crackers. One of us chatted with more than a dozen attendees at CPAC, the annual Republican conference. Many were MAGA before they were MAHA, and said their midterm votes don’t hinge on health issues. Virtually none said they would realistically consider voting blue in November.

And then there is the question of numbers. To hear MAHA leaders tell it, their supporters constitute a small army. Tony Lyons, who runs MAHA PAC, the movement’s political arm, has said that there are millions of MAHA moms and, in a memo to GOP leaders, argued that embracing the movement is the way to “win big in the midterms.” Hari claimed on X in January that thousands of MAHA supporters have been calling state legislatures in recent months over concerns about legislation that would give pesticide makers immunity from lawsuits (though, when we asked about that, she conceded that the number was more likely in the hundreds). In Tennessee, which considered a pesticide bill earlier this year, a lawmaker told us that she received “about 150 emails and around 50 calls to my office.” But in our reporting, we were unable to track down evidence suggesting that moms who will cast their votes based on their MAHA beliefs exist in such numbers that they could swing the midterms. MAHA “is not going to affect the aggregate, but it could affect various districts which are very close,” Bob Blendon, a Harvard professor who studies public opinion on health, told us.

[Read: The man holding MAHA together]

The most prominent contest where MAHA has come into play so far isn’t even a seat that is realistically at odds of flipping from red to blue. MAHA PAC has pledged to spend $1 million to unseat Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was the pivotal vote to advance RFK Jr.’s nomination as health secretary but has since publicly called him out on occasion. The group has endorsed another Republican, Julia Letlow, and health hasn’t been a defining issue in the race. Instead, both candidates have competed to prove that they are more loyal to Trump. (Trump has endorsed Letlow over Cassidy.)

Of course, a lot can change from now until November. American elections have been upended before by groups of voters who seemed elusive and seemingly came out of nowhere. The Tea Party, for example, was seen initially as diffuse—much like the modern MAHA movement—but the effort was actually well funded and well planned, Patrick Rafail, a professor at Tulane University who wrote a book on the movement, told us. “I don’t see a parallel for MAHA,” he said.

MAHA seems to be one of the few causes that unites people across the political spectrum. But broad appeal doesn’t necessarily translate at the ballot box.