Patrick Temple-West in New York Published September 27 2026

Divisions within Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement risk damaging Republicans as Maha prepares to test its political power at the midterm elections. Grassroots supporters say the group has been hijacked by corporate interests, while mainstream Republicans worry Maha’s anti-vaccination message could endanger candidates in close races. The conflict surfaced ahead of Maha’s health conference in Washington on September 29, where nine public companies are scheduled to speak — more than double last year — including Open AI, Anthropic, and United Health. Some expressed shock that Maha requested up to $300,000 from corporate sponsors for panel access and private gatherings with administration officials. Kelly Ryerson, a Kennedy devotee and co-founder of a regenerative agriculture non-profit, said: “That’s not Maha... Some of these things creeping in feel like classic lobbying and co-opting of a very popular movement.”

Maha loyalists complain the grassroots movement has been overtaken by outside groups. Zen Honeycutt, a Maha loyalist and head of Moms Across America, said: “The biohacker bros have pretty much moved on into the Maha movement... The real mothers movement... do not use Neuralink and Crispr and GLP-1s and peptides.” Maha began as a grassroots health crusade led by Kennedy focused on wellness and scepticism of vaccines, ultra-processed foods, and alleged corruption of the public health system by corporate interests. It became an official government policy initiative when Kennedy, after abandoning his independent presidential run in 2024 and endorsing Donald Trump, was appointed health secretary by the president. Now it raises campaign contributions and funds preferred Republican candidates. Kennedy, the most popular secretary in Trump’s cabinet per Pew Research, has campaigned in battleground states. However, his vaccine scepticism poses problems for Republican candidates. Republican pollster Whit Ayres said: “If he is casting doubt about the efficacy of vaccines and insinuating that vaccines cause diseases, then he is a total loss for Republicans.” The Iowa governor’s race is considered the most high-profile test of Maha’s political power.