Medicare for All

This year, a majority of House Democratic candidates endorsed Medicare for All, according to the union National Nurses United.

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Overall, 57 percent of candidates who endorsed Medicare for All won their races.

… even those candidates who backed single-payer in deep red districts did better at the polls this year than in 2016. Only five races out of 45 where Democrats who supported Medicare for All got less than 40 percent of the vote—safe Republican seats, in other words—saw a lower percentage of votes for the Democrat than in 2016.

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Only seven candidates in the 30 races Cook labeled as toss-ups endorsed Medicare for All; of those candidates, two won, three lost and two races are still undecided, but only one reduced the vote share over 2016. … Incredibly, a district that previously looked at Dana Rohrabacher and said yes, I want him, now wants a guy who supports single-payer instead.

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It’s interesting, though, that so many Democrats running in close races this year didn’t support Medicare for All, even in districts deemed Lean or Likely Democratic by Cook. Of 12 Likely Democratic races, only three Democrats endorsed Medicare for All.

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So it seems that, even as Medicare for All becomes a mainstream policy among Democrats, its biggest holdouts remain Democrats in swing districts, where they likely fear the wrath of rich suburban independent voters. It’s impossible to say whether Medicare for All definitively helped or hurt candidates

… Democrats on the fence should take note of the fact that very few candidates who endorsed single-payer suffered crushing losses …

—Libby Watson, *Splinter*[^1]