A participant holds a “Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Mama” sign at the end of a press conference announcing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) intent to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2025.
Elizabeth Franz | Reuters
President Donald Trump is heading toward the iceberg of “bringing America back to health” after issuing an executive order to increase domestic production of a key herbicide called glyphosate. Democrats see an opportunity to bring the health movement back on their side.
Mr. Trump entered his second term in the White House after former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew his candidacy for president and endorsed him. Kennedy’s MAHA movement, which denounces chemicals in food and promotes natural alternatives, played a key role in Trump’s victory, and Trump rewarded Kennedy with his appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
But President Trump’s recent moves benefiting the very chemicals MAHA hates are creating cracks in the foundation that helped propel him to the White House, with less than nine months left until the pivotal midterm and primary elections begin next week. Democrats, hoping to strip President Trump of near-total control of Washington, see MAHA as an opportunity to bring it back into their fold.
“What the president did with the Environmental Protection Agency and saying things like, ‘Trust me on this, we’ll do it later,’ really pissed off a lot of people,” Rep. Cherry Pingree of Maine, the top appropriator on the committee that oversees the Environmental Protection Agency, said in an interview with CNBC. “It creates a huge opportunity for candidates who are willing to talk about the health of our diets, ‘food is medicine’ (and) toxic chemicals in our environment.”
Pingree, who is sponsoring a bill with Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie to rescind the executive order on glyphosate, has long been an advocate against the chemical in food.
At issue for MAHA is not only last week’s executive order provoking glyphosate, the main chemical in Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, which has been linked to cancer in the past, but is still considered safe by the EPA. MAHA supporters say the White House and the Republican Party have criticized MAHA supporters on several occasions.
The government is also on our side. bayer monsanto The Supreme Court case would weaken appellants’ ability to sue if they believe a pesticide or herbicide gave them cancer. And Congressional Republicans are pushing a new farm bill that includes what MAHA supporters advocate is a “liability shield” for chemical manufacturers.
“I feel like this EO is really close to breaking point,” said Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA supporter known by the nickname “Glyphosate Girl.” “People can’t keep making excuses for the administration and saying, ‘Well, they’ll manage, or whatever it is,’ because that’s not really happening.”
Kelly Ryerson (known as “Glyphosate Girl” by her supporters) poses for a portrait in Miami on Thursday, January 22, 2026.
Marta Lavandier | AP
Ryerson said the MAHA forces she sees as fleeing the Trump administration are independents who supported Kennedy and Democrats who crossed the aisle to support Trump in hopes of making good on Kennedy’s health policies.
“This is a very real, very large group of people, and it’s very concerning going into the midterm elections,” Ryerson said.
Many in the MAHA movement were initially aligned with the Democratic Party. Trump’s embrace was particularly shocking for Democrats, some of whom worked to elect former President Barack Obama. Republicans have traditionally supported the industry’s desire to work with chemical manufacturers and agricultural giants on pesticides and herbicides, and to reduce oversight and regulation.
“I’ve had conversations with people who are passionate about the MAHA movement, and they say, ‘Are there any other Democrats out there who support this?'” Pingree said. “I’m like, holy man, how did we miss the boat here? … We have a huge number of people who sign on to bills like this and support these types of issues.”
Pingree said he is encouraging the caucus to speak out more often about MAHA issues and is trying to find opportunities to address the issue.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) speaks at a press conference sponsored by the Climate Action Campaign in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 2025.
Brian Dozier AFP | Getty Images
Other Democrats are using the opportunity to get involved as well. Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich said in an interview on Capitol Hill that the administration’s move is an opportunity for Democrats.
“I think the answer is yes, especially given the fact that Kennedy basically threw his own people completely under the bus,” Heinrich said. “We need to show that we are proactively addressing these issues, and that we will do so in a consistent and predictable manner.”
“This whole practice of using glyphosate to dry crops before turning them into Cheerios doesn’t work well in New Mexico,” Heinrich said, pointing to an issue that is particularly hot for MAHA.
And Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat who has been vocal about MAHA and is “thrilled” to have RFK as health secretary, told CNBC in a statement that he “has always supported removing harmful pesticides from food to make Americans safer.”
“RFK Jr. felt that way at one time, too, and it’s very disappointing to see him and the administration turning their backs on the American people in this way,” Polis said. “The president’s decision to side with large chemical manufacturers will ultimately worsen the health of Americans.”
President Kennedy has supported his administration’s executive orders on glyphosate, even though he once won a $290 million lawsuit against a man who said the chemical caused cancer. In a lengthy statement on X this week, he said we need to “bring chemical production back to the United States and end our near-total dependence on our adversaries.” He noted that one pillar of the strategy is his administration’s commitment to regenerative agriculture, which avoids the use of traditional chemicals and supports practices that improve soil health.
“If these inputs disappeared overnight, crop yields would decline, food prices would rise, and the United States would experience farm losses even greater than what we are witnessing today,” President Kennedy said, accusing Washington of entrenching large-scale agriculture with the use of chemicals. “We are now changing course without destabilizing food supplies.”
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to the media after President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Kylie Cooper | Reuters
White House Press Secretary Khush Desai told CNBC that the Trump administration had agreed to MAHA to “remove artificial ingredients from the food supply, overhaul the dietary guidelines for Americans, reconsider infant formula, and more.”
“Democrats have been talking about health issues for a long time, but President Trump and his administration have made real progress and will continue to deliver on the MAHA agenda,” Desai said. “The President’s executive order to boost domestic production of the element phosphorus needed to manufacture munitions and other cutting-edge technologies does not change our resolve to make America healthy again.”
Ryerson did not say that the MAHA movement has yet completely abandoned Trump and Kennedy, leaving the door open for course correction. He also noted that Kennedy’s role at HHS does not have jurisdiction over pesticides administered by the Environmental Protection Agency.
But she warned that time is running out for the administration to act.
“At this point, there is no evidence of any movement to limit exposure to these chemicals, and I see the only way the White House and Republicans can make up for this problem in time for the midterm elections as a very real, very large-scale move to finally put in place some protective measures,” she said.
Among the potential moves to mitigate MAHA would be a ban on pre-harvest drying, the process of spraying crops with herbicides before harvest to make harvesting easier. She also asked the Supreme Court to rescind support for Bayer-Monsanto and for the administration to invest in regenerative agriculture.
It’s less clear whether the Republican Party, which has long held the upper hand in agricultural areas, is prepared to accommodate MAHA’s current situation.
“They have looked at the science, and they will continue to look at the science on this issue, and we have to get back to the science and the facts and common sense,” said Sen. John Hoeven (D), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “Of course it has to be safe, and it’s okay to observe all the time, but let’s make sure we’re dealing with science.”
“If you just flip the ability to use it, you’re going to have a dramatic impact on the food supply, and that’s the reality,” Hoeven said.
