It was a bad Election Day for MAHA, and Zen Honeycutt wasn’t the least bit surprised. The Make America Healthy Again activist — part of the MAHA mom coalition who helped propel President Donald Trump back into office in 2024 — had read the tea leaves for months: No matter how much she and other organizers still backed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s policies on pesticides were unpopular and harmed the movement.
Less than a week before the election, Kennedy appeared at a MAHA rally in a Des Moines suburb and went so far as to call Lahn’s race “the most important election going on in this country today.” On Tuesday, Lahn lost by a wide margin to a Democrat who campaigned on similar health issues and an anti-corruption platform. Ruby-red Iowa also lost all congressional representation among Republican women, following national headwinds that saw Democrats take decisive control of both chambers of Congress and key state races as voters decisively rejected Trump’s priorities. Among the collateral: knocking out key Republican candidates backed by MAHA-affiliated groups.
He was going to address our children’s health and safety,” Honeycutt said of the president. Especially not with pesticides. It’s only gotten worse.” Ahead of the election, Honeycutt, based in North Carolina, delivered remarks at the Des Moines area event and mingled with supporters who munched on free burgers and fries from Steak ‘n Shake — MAHA’s fast food darling that earned praise from Kennedy for banning seed oils.
She suspects MAHA moms stayed home on Election Day, impacting GOP performance. Other MAHA influencers have shared similar sentiments. Lahn was among the candidates endorsed by MAHA Action, led by book publisher and Kennedy ally Tony Lyons.
Lyons blamed the losses on being outspent by Democrats. Case in point: Her group’s midterm endorsement list included 33 Republicans, eight Democrats and seven independents. Just a little over a dozen Republican candidates on the list won their elections.
Every Democrat, all of whom were incumbents and included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, won. Honeycutt said that in private conversations this year with legislative staffers for dozens of Democrats in Congress, many expressed an open interest in environmental policies that align with the MAHA movement, including ending the practice of using the herbicide glyphosate in weedkillers — but at the time they lamented their constraints in Republican-controlled chambers.
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