Republicans are trying to flip the script on Democratic healthcare attacks, arguing that Senate Democrats blocked the Trump administration’s push to steer more funding to rural hospitals struggling to keep their doors open.
The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, is leaning into that argument with a new round of digital ads in marquee Senate states.
The spots highlight Democratic votes against President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” — and the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program tucked inside it to help blunt the impact of tightening Medicare eligibility rules.
In Georgia, the narrator takes aim at Sen. John Ossoff: “Eight rural Georgia hospitals have closed since 2010, and when John Ossoff had a chance to secure $200 million for rural hospitals, he voted no, no to rural hospitals, no to better healthcare access, no to Georgia families. Instead, John Ossoff wants to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants with your tax dollars.”
The ad ends with a stark line: “He made his choice: illegal immigrants first, Georgia last.”
Mr. Ossoff, who assumed office in 2021, is facing off with GOP Rep. Mike Collins this fall. The Democrat has been credited with running a strong re‑election campaign in a state that has turned into a perennial battleground.
The NRSC is running similar digital ads against Democrats in Senate races in North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, Michigan and New Hampshire.
Republicans are trying to blunt a line of attack that has worked well for Democrats, who have spent years tying GOP policies to higher costs, fewer benefits and rural hospital closures.
Democrats have used concerns over rising healthcare costs and the loss of health insurance coverage under Mr. Trump. They say they voted against his signature domestic legislation because they believe it would hurt rural hospitals rather than help them.
Republicans maintain that Democrats would have voted for the Trump proposal if they really cared about what happens to rural care. They say that Democrats are exaggerating — and in some cases outright lying — about the impact the One Big Beautiful Bill had on rural hospitals.
“When Senate Democrats like Jon Ossoff had the opportunity to invest billions in rural hospitals, they voted no. Democrats will put illegal immigrants ahead of hardworking Americans every chance they get,” said NRSC spokesperson Bernadette Breslin.
Last year, Democrats cited Congressional Budget Office estimates showing that roughly $900 billion of the $1.1 trillion in proposed spending cuts over the next decade in the Trump law would come from changes to Medicaid — and would increase the number of uninsured by more than 10 million over the same period.
They have combined that with criticism focused on Republican opposition to extending the enhanced Obamacare coronavirus subsidies, confident it will hurt the GOP in the midterms.
The attack worked in the 2025 off‑year races. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger repeatedly tied the president’s law to rural clinic closures as she powered her way to a landslide win in the governor’s race.
For his part, Mr. Ossoff is sticking with the Democratic narrative. He is warning that people will die because of the Trump administration’s policy choices and criticizing the president for failing to follow through on the promise to drive down healthcare costs.
“They doubled health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians and threw 300,000 Georgians off their insurance altogether,” Mr. Ossoff said at a recent campaign stop in Savannah. “They did this to pay for a tax cut that went overwhelmingly to the rich and to corporate America.”
