Republican Rep. Jason Lewis (R-MN-02), who lost his bid for reelection Tuesday, attributes the Republican Party’s loss of the House to Sen. John McCain’s opposition to repealing ObamaCare.
In a Monday op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Lewis writes that McCain’s vote against a repeal prompted a “green wave” of “liberal special-interest money, which was used to propagate false claims that the House plan ‘gutted coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.’”
“That line was the Democrats’ most potent attack in the midterms. It was endlessly repeated by overt partisans in the media,” Lewis suggests.
On the campaign trail, Lewis faced repeated attacks from Democrat Angie Craig and allied groups for allegedly siding with insurance companies over constituents with pre-existing conditions.
“Jason Lewis just got to Washington and already accepted nearly $1 million in contributions from special interests and sided with the insurance companies only to deny protections for pre-existing conditions and allow them to charge older Americans more,” one ad among many produced by the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee stated.
As a freshmen congressman, Lewis represented Minnesota’s Second Congressional District, one of the state’s foremost swing districts with constituents who consistently ranked health care as their top concern.
Lewis notes in his Monday article that the Republican health care plan explicitly stated that “nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting insurers to limit health coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions.”
“But because the AHCA [American Health Care Act] didn’t pass, it was impossible to refute lies about it,” Lewis continues. “The late Arizona senator’s grievance with all things Trump was well known, but this obsession on the part of ‘Never Trump’ Republicans has to end. Disapprove of the president’s style if you like, but don’t sacrifice sound policy to pettiness.”
In response, Meghan McCain called Lewis’ article “abhorrent,” and retweeted criticisms of The Wall Street Journal for publishing the article.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “John McCain” by Gage Skidmore cc2.0.
