analysis

Viral medical horror stories could scramble Republican Sen. Roger Marshall's odds in the Kansas Senate race

Published October 25, 2026 9:00AM (EDT)

President Donald Trump signs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law at the White House on July 4, 2025. (Eric Lee/Getty Images)

Republicans wanted the 2026 midterms to be a victory lap for Donald Trump ’s tax cuts. Instead, the GOP’s signature legislation from the president’s second term — 2025’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — is shaping up to be a sleeper vulnerability for the party.

When Republicans first passed Trump’s signature bill in party-line votes in both the House and Senate in 2025, its tax cuts took effect immediately, while the deepest cuts to Medicaid were scheduled for after the midterms, when the voters who would feel them could no longer hold anyone accountable. But even then, one of their own issued a warning that now hangs over the midterms. North Carolina Sen.…