Rfk Jr. Is Now A Wellness Guru For Republicans In Washington

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has turned GOP policy orthodoxy on its head with his attacks on food and pharma.

He’s also turning Republicans into advocates of eating more vegetables, drinking raw milk and eschewing pharmaceuticals. Even in Washington, where Kennedy takes near-daily abuse from Democrats and public health experts for his moves to discourage vaccination, Republicans increasingly see him not just as a new ally in the MAGA political tent, but as a guru to guide their lives toward a healthier future.

From Congress to the Heritage Foundation, Washington’s Republicans are embracing Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement to address chronic disease. The extent of it shows that the alliance President Donald Trump formed with Kennedy to win the 2024 election is having consequences that go way beyond the political.

“We’re more conscious of the food choices we offer at public events,” said Jennifer Galardi, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind the Project 2025 agenda for Trump’s second term.

The foundation, for example, has launched the Restoring American Wellness initiative, or RAW, focusing on MAHA-aligned issues. Galardi, who considered herself a “California liberal” up until the Covid-19 pandemic, said Heritage has worked to MAHA-ify internally since RAW was launched, including throwing a brunch party to celebrate the Kennedy-led health department with juice shots and eggs, a “superfood,” and seeking healthier vendors like The Little Beet and Sweetgreen in lieu of Chick-fil-A.

Across Washington’s MAGA scene, concern over ingredients in meals and everyday products is a growing obsession and a sign that Kennedy’s cultural influence has penetrated the most private corners of daily life. Republican staffers are often spotted wearing Oura rings and WHOOP bracelets — fitness trackers Kennedy says he wants every American wearing — and many have begun cutting ultraprocessed foods and artificial dyes from their diets.

“It’s almost a contagious energy,” said Caroline Tucker, health policy adviser for House MAHA Caucus co-founder Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.). Buchanan told POLITICO that MAHA “reflects a long-overdue shift in how we think about health in this country.”

Tucker, Buchanan and several of his staffers sport Oura rings, which track sleep quality and heart rate, among other things. Buchanan aides regularly gather at Ama, an Italian restaurant on Capitol Hill that has gone to lengths to remove chemicals, including with a carbon water filtration system.

Casey Means, the nominee for surgeon general, and MAHA influencer Vani Hari have raved about the restaurant, and Federal Election Commission filings show it’s a popular destination for House Democrats, with the campaign committee of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spending more than $6,000 on catering in July.

A staffer for Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), a member of the MAHA caucus, said living the MAHA way is paying off. “Energy-wise, it’s night and day,” said the staffer, a 20-something who lives in affluent Northwest Washington and wears a WHOOP bracelet that tracks sleep and exertion. The aide began to avoid the artificial food dyes and seed oils Kennedy denounces after experiencing inflammation from an autoimmune disease.

MAHA’s inroads in one of the most liberal cities in America come as the movement gathers steam across the nation, fueled by growing disillusionment with the health care system and a booming, $2 trillion global wellness industry. Since joining forces with Trump, Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer and member of the country’s most iconic Democratic family, has significantly broadened his cult-like following, pushing once-fringe views on vaccines and nutrition into the mainstream, even as much of the nation finds him weird and dangerous.

“Once your eyes are open to all this stuff, it’s hard to go back,” said Amanda Vargo, 31, a Republican who lives in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington.

Vargo began to make major changes to her diet and consumption habits last year after two years of fertility issues and a miscarriage. She buys organic produce, avoids seed oils, and has switched to fragrance-free household cleaners and makeup products certified by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit long seen as a left-leaning group that focuses on toxic chemicals.

“I was already a supporter of President Trump and conservative principles, but when they joined forces with the MAHA movement, it only just made me more excited about the trajectory of our movement,” Vargo said.

The GOP’s embrace of nutrition and wellness stands in sharp contrast to its position less than 15 years ago, when Republicans sharply criticized then-first lady Michelle Obama's push for healthier meals and more exercise as nanny state nonsense. Red states are now banning low-income people from buying soda and candy with food stamps, and rivaling Democratic counterparts in pushing legislation to crack down on certain chemicals in food.

“MAHA is making wellness cool on the right,” shared one 24-year-old Republican staffer, granted anonymity to discuss her personal health decisions. Her interest in wellness started four years ago, after what she describes as a “supernatural encounter” with God.

A former Democrat, she has stopped taking birth control pills and antidepressants and now consumes a protein-heavy diet that includes raw milk, which she picks up weekly from a drop-off post at MOM’s Organic Market in Alexandria, Virginia, another close-in Washington suburb. Raw milk sales are illegal in Washington, but customers can obtain it by purchasing a cowshare in Virginia or buying milk labeled for pets in Maryland. Avery’s Branch Farms, which drops off raw milk to cowshare owners at MOM’s locations in Virginia, reported a 20 percent annual increase in sales in the state.

The Food and Drug Administration, which Kennedy now leads, says raw milk can expose people who drink it to dangerous bacteria because it is not pasteurized, and is responsible for numerous foodborne illnesses.

In Washington and elsewhere, Kennedy is inspiring some who were never politically active to join the Trump team. “I knew that RFK had a mission and I knew where he stands,” said Khepra Anu, who reopened a raw food juice bar at the Tastemakers food hall in the capital’s Brookland neighborhood last year after shutting down in the pandemic. Anu, who is in his 50s and a student of naturopathy, or non-pharmaceutical solutions to health problems, decided to vote for the first time in 2024, casting a ballot for Trump due to his alignment with Kennedy.

Wellness centers across the Washington metro area have reported an uptick in interest for cold plunges and saunas as patrons seek alternatives to conventional therapies, and the region’s regenerative farms, of which Kennedy is a fan, are seeing a surge in business for MAHA-endorsed products like tallow and beef organ meats. A wave of restaurants focused on healthier ingredients have also opened or announced plans to open in Washington, such as Life Alive Organic Cafe, Springbone Kitchen, and Pura Vida.

Business owners say the interest transcends politics and reflects a generational shift in how people think about health.

“We're really shifting from a pharmaceutical sick care model to the empowerment of our own health,” said April Meyerson, who founded Awarehouse, a wellness center in Arlington. It bills itself as “the DMV’s first studio for nervous system reset.” DMV refers to the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Regenerate by Sayer Ji, an adviser for MAHA Action, a Kennedy-connected nonprofit, sits on the bookshelf in a room dedicated to guided breathwork, alongside works on psychedelics and the dangers of electromagnetic radiation, all ideas promoted by MAHA.

How strong the MAHA movement truly is remains contested. Hollywood and pop culture have long churned through wellness icons, from Jane Fonda to Oprah Winfrey to Gwyneth Paltrow, and fad diets like Atkins, the caveman diet, and the Whole30 diet have all had their turn in the limelight. Prior to Kennedy’s political focus on health, there was Michelle Obama, and Democrats are betting Kennedy will drag down Republicans in this year’s midterm elections with his efforts to discourage vaccination.

In Washington, where voters overwhelmingly backed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024, most wellness practitioners interviewed by POLITICO remain on the left, and interest in MAHA-aligned practices has stayed at the consumer level, without persuading them to join the movement or support the Republican Party.

“It has no political tie at all,” said Nick Nunez, a left-leaning, 27-year-old D.C. resident, adding that he thinks “RFK Jr. is insane.” Nunez starts his morning with broth for electrolytes, exercises regularly and takes creatine supplements as part of an effort to ward off chronic disease.

Galardi at Heritage, expressed exasperation at the left’s reluctance to join forces.

“I don't care what you call it,” she said. “What I would say to the people on the left is, ‘Why are you so reluctant to embrace the people in the movement that are doing the same things you are?’”