The 2026 election could help determine the future of who qualifies for SNAP and Medicaid benefits and how easily people can get them.
Cuyahoga County voters will help choose members of Congress and Ohio’s next governor. They’ll also decide on a county property tax levy. Each plays a role in Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income adults, and SNAP, a food assistance program.
President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law last July, made major changes to both SNAP and Medicaid. The next Congress could keep those changes or try to roll them back. Ohio’s next governor will oversee how the state carries them out, including new work requirements for Medicaid, which insures about a quarter of residents across Ohio and close to one in three in Cuyahoga County.
In Cuyahoga County, about 87,000 people will face new work requirements next year to keep their insurance as a result of the bill. And about 17,500 fewer people in the county are receiving SNAP since last summer, though it’s unknown how many were kicked off the rolls because of the bill or dropped off for other reasons.
At the local level, the county’s health and human services levy would cover some funding lost under the federal law and pay for more workers to help residents sign up for SNAP and Medicaid. One goal is to reduce growing wait times for people trying to sign up for or keep their benefits.
Signal Cleveland broke down what the candidates have said about Medicaid, SNAP and the major federal policy bill that changed the two programs. We trawled social media pages, watched interviews, read press releases and reached out to campaigns to glean this information. Some candidates have offered specific positions; others have said little about either program. We flag those gaps so you can see what’s known — and what candidates still haven’t answered.
We also looked at how the passage or rejection of the property tax levy could impact people who rely on SNAP and Medicaid.
Jump to the issue or candidate information you need:
Federal races
The party in control of the Senate and House of Representatives has lots of power to pass budgets and laws. In this election, voters in Cuyahoga County are picking senators and representatives for Congress.
Last year, Republicans controlled the U.S. Senate and the U.S House of Representatives. During that time, they passed a bill that would reduce federal spending on Medicaid by $911 billion over the next decade, an estimate provided by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The SNAP program also faced cuts: $187 billion less in spending over the next 10 years.
That bill is what many Republicans and Democrats — including in Ohio — are now fighting about.
The bill changed SNAP by:
- Adding work requirements for people aged 55 to 64, veterans, former foster youth, people facing homelessness and certain parents. Those went into effect this spring.
- Making legal immigrants like refugees ineligible to receive SNAP benefits. That went into effect last fall.
- Cutting the amount of money to help states pay staff to sign up residents for SNAP.
The bill changed Medicaid by:
- Adding new work requirements for working-age adults who don’t have a disability and are not pregnant. Those recipients will have to renew coverage more often. Those changes begin next year.
- Making legal immigrants like refugees ineligible for Medicaid. This took effect this October.
- Setting up policies that could significantly reduce how much money Ohio has in the future to run the Medicaid program. State lawmakers could blunt some of these losses with policy change. If they don’t, they may have to make cuts to the the program to balance Ohio’s budget.
How could federal elections change my Medicaid and SNAP benefits?
Whichever party has more senators and representatives will help determine the future of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The Republican party has generally supported the changes made to SNAP and Medicaid, as most of their senators and representatives voted to pass it. Party leaders, including President Trump, touted the bill as a way to eliminate Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse, while savings could go towards cutting working Americans’ taxes and investing in more immigration enforcement. In Ohio, the average tax cut was $3,173 in 2026, according to the Tax Foundation, a right-of-center think tank.
The Democratic party framed the bill as an effort to give tax cuts to the wealthy by removing social services for the poor. Democratic leaders have said they want to reverse the SNAP and Medicaid changes.
Even if Democrats take control of the House and Senate, they will likely lack the power to fully repeal the Medicaid and SNAP changes made by the bill.
That’s because Trump would need to sign off on any bill passed by Congress. He is unlikely to support repealing the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Who are the candidates for U.S. Senator in Ohio?
Cuyahoga County residents have two main choices for Senator: Jon Husted, a Republican who is Ohio’s current senator, and Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who used to be a senator.
Here is an overview of what Husted and Brown have said about Medicaid and SNAP:
- Husted voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill. In an op-ed, he framed the bill as protecting Medicaid for “children living in poverty, those living with disabilities, caretakers, and the elderly.” When it comes to SNAP, a spokesperson for Husted said he’s supported measures to keep the program strong for those who need it by “rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse.”
- Brown has told media outlets he wants to reverse both the Medicaid and SNAP changes. He’s said he’s worried about the people who will lose Medicaid.
What did Ohio’s U.S Senate candidates say about Medicaid?
Jon Husted
Husted has supported adding work requirements to Medicaid since at least 2019, when he served as Ohio’s lieutenant governor. At the time, he supported expanding Medicaid to cover more Ohio residents as long as it came with work requirements.
After he was appointed senator in 2025, he voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill. When it passed, Husted wrote in an op-ed that he supported the tax cuts it provided to workers and job creators. He said the bill would reduce Medicaid spending on “illegal immigrants.” The bill limits how much health providers can get reimbursed for treating certain low-income non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, in emergency situations.
Husted maintained in the opinion piece that he “made sure” that Ohio could increase a funding mechanism that helps hospitals pay for Medicaid services. The Ohio Hospital Association later thanked Husted for working to add new financial resources in the bill, such as a $50 billion fund to go toward rural health.
In an email to Signal Cleveland, a spokesperson for Husted cited a projection from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid that showed Medicaid spending is expected to grow 5% per year on average over the next decade.
That proves that the bill “does NOT cut Medicaid,” the email said. “In fact, Ohio is going to get MORE federal dollars than ever before for Medicaid recipients and rural hospitals.”
Health policy organizations such as KFF and the Health Policy Institute of Ohio have both said the bill does cut Medicaid spending, including in Ohio. And an expanded version of the analysis Husted cited went on to state that key parts of the One Big Beautiful Bill would likely drive Medicaid spending down, including the work rules and a new requirement to reduce payments to certain providers that treat a lot of Medicaid patients.
But it’s difficult to measure the exact impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill on Ohio’s Medicaid funding, because many of the changes will roll out in 2027 or 2028. Ohio legislators may be able to reduce some of the financial impacts by adjusting state laws. If they don’t, the bill could reduce Medicaid funding to the state by billions of dollars a year, according to predictions by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio and Policy Matters Ohio, a left-of-center policy research organization. These funding changes could force the state to eliminate optional benefits, like vision and dental services, or reduce payments to providers, according to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
Sherrod Brown
When he formerly served as senator, Brown voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act, which allowed Ohio to expand Medicaid to certain low-income people. He voted against Republican efforts to repeal it in 2017.
Brown was not in office when Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill. He has slammed Husted for voting in favor of the bill. Brown told The Ohio Independent that he wants to reverse the Medicaid cuts the bill instituted.
“Next year, literally hundreds of thousands of Ohioans will lose their insurance, in large part because [Republicans] gave tax cuts to billionaires,” Brown said in an interview this year with Ideastream.
Residents along the entire income spectrum received a tax cut as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill, according to an analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a left-leaning economic policy think tank. But the lowest-income earners will get the smallest benefit while the highest-income earners will get the largest, the analysis found.
Through ads and social media posts, Brown’s campaign has shared the stories of parents of kids with disabilities, who are worried Medicaid programs they use will be cut due to the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Several of his ads also say interchangeably that the bill would cut Medicaid or healthcare for around 500,000 Ohioans.
KFF, an independent health policy nonprofit, predicted that the One Big Beautiful Bill could increase the uninsured population by 350,000 to 580,000 over the next decade. But this estimate includes residents who lost private insurance because Affordable Care Act tax credits expired last year. When KFF narrowed its estimate to just look at residents who will lose Medicaid, that number was closer to 290,000. State Health & Value Strategies, another third-party research group, estimated about 321,000 people in Ohio would fall off Medicaid rolls over the next decade because of the bill.
What did Ohio’s U.S Senate candidates say about SNAP?
Jon Husted
Husted has not spoken extensively about the One Big Beautiful Bill’s impact on the SNAP program. But in a statement provided to Signal Cleveland, a spokesperson wrote that “there’s nothing in any bill that the senator has supported that would impact Ohioans who rely on SNAP for its intended purpose. Senator Husted wants to protect and preserve SNAP for Ohioans who rely on it.”
Additionally, Husted supported a separate bill in 2025 that would allow students aged 18 to 21 to work part-time in certain programs without it counting against their families’ SNAP benefits.
Sherrod Brown
When Brown served in the Senate (he lost his seat to Sen. Bernie Moreno in 2022), he opposed adding restrictions to the SNAP program or cutting it. In 2018, he spoke out against a Republican-led plan to add more work requirements to SNAP, writing on social media that it would “make it more difficult for those struggling among us to get the food stamps they need.” In 2024, he also opposed cuts Congress was considering to SNAP.
During his campaign, Brown blamed the fact that more than 100,000 Ohioans lost SNAP benefits in the past year on Husted’s vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Brown told WOSU in October that he would reverse changes to the SNAP program made by the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Who are the congressional candidates in Cuyahoga County?
There are two races for Congress in Cuyahoga County, depending on where you live.
U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, a Democrat, currently represents the eastern part of the county, including Cleveland. This is called District 11. Mike Kirchner, a Republican retiree and first-time candidate, is challenging her for the seat.
Here is an overview of what Brown and Kirchner have said about Medicaid and SNAP:
- Brown voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill. She supports reversing the cuts made to Medicaid and SNAP, her spokesperson told Signal Cleveland.
- Kirchner did not respond to questions asking him whether he supports the changes to the Medicaid and SNAP programs. His campaign website focuses on one issue, the future of Social Security.
U.S. Rep. Max Miller, a Republican, currently represents the south and western Cuyahoga County suburbs, which is called District 7. He’s being challenged by Brian Poindexter, a Democrat and ironworker making his first run for federal office.
Here is an overview of what Miller and Poindexter have said about Medicaid and SNAP:
- Miller voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill. In an op-ed, Miller said that the bill would protect Medicaid for the “truly vulnerable” while “eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.” He did not address the bill’s changes to SNAP.
- Poindexter supports reversing the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, a campaign spokesperson told Signal Cleveland.
What did the U.S. Congressional District 11 candidates say about Medicaid?
Shontel Brown
Brown has served as a federal representative since 2021. She voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill, saying at the time that she was concerned it would cut healthcare from tens of thousands of constituents she represents, which was in line with estimates at the time.
In a statement to Signal Cleveland, Brown said the cuts to Medicaid have also put pressure on Cuyahoga County, which administers the benefits.
“Needless to say, the Trump Administration is not holding workshops in Cleveland to explain any of this to people or help them through the process,” Brown wrote in a statement. “The burden has fallen on the County to educate and explain, when these were cuts and changes they never pushed for.”
In a statement, Brown said she supports stopping or reversing Medicaid cuts “any way we can.”
Mike Kirchner
Kirchner’s website did not detail his position on the Medicaid program. He did not respond to an email with questions about his position on Medicaid or the One Big Beautiful Bill.
What did U.S. Congressional District 11 candidates say about SNAP?
Shontel Brown
After voting against the One Big Beautiful Bill, Brown said she was concerned it would cut food assistance from her constituents.
In March of this year, Brown sponsored a federal bill to reverse the changes to the SNAP program. The House has not voted on it.
Mike Kirchner
Kirchner’s website did not detail his position on the SNAP program. He did not respond to an email with questions about his position on SNAP or the One Big Beautiful Bill.
What did U.S. Congressional District 7 candidates say about Medicaid?
Max Miller
Miller voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill, touting the tax cuts it would provide to his constituents.
In an opinion piece after the vote, Miller said he wanted to “dispel myths” about the bill.
“You may have heard that this bill will kick American families off of Medicaid,” he wrote. “In reality, the Big Beautiful Bill protects and strengthens Medicaid for those who rely on it — pregnant women, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families — while eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.”
It’s true that the new work requirements do not apply to pregnant women, children, seniors or people with disabilities. But certain low-income parents with children over age 13 will need to meet them.
Brian Poindexter
Poindexter wants to reverse the Medicaid changes made by the bill.
“With the Big Beautiful Bill, Max Miller voted to take health care and food away from working families to pay for tax cuts for wealthy families like his,” he said in a statement provided by his campaign. “I support undoing those cuts.”
What did U.S. Congressional District 7 candidates say about SNAP?
Max Miller
In 2023, Max Miller supported bipartisan legislation that would let people earn money through certain job training programs without reducing their SNAP benefits.
Miller has not spoken publicly about the One Big Beautiful Bill’s impact on the SNAP program, based on a review of social media posts and press releases. His office did not respond to a request for comment about his priorities for SNAP going forward.
Brian Poindexter
Brian Poindexter has not spoken a lot about SNAP in social media posts or press releases. But he told Signal Cleveland he wanted to undo the SNAP changes made by last year’s federal bill.
Governor’s race
Residents have two choices for governor: Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican who founded a biotechnology pharmaceutical company, and Amy Acton, a Democrat who formerly served as the state’s director of the department of health.
Why does Ohio’s governor matter for SNAP and Medicaid?
Federal law sets many of the rules for Medicaid and SNAP, but Ohio’s governor oversees the agencies that carry them out. Those agencies make decisions that affect how people sign up, keep their benefits and prove they qualify for exemptions from work requirements.
The governor also proposes the state’s two-year budget, which includes Medicaid funding. But state lawmakers can change it. Ultimately, they vote to approve it or not.
Who are the candidates for Ohio governor?
Both candidates have spoken broadly about Medicaid without offering specific plans, said Tara Britton, public policy and advocacy director at the Center for Community Solutions.
Here is an overview of what Acton and Ramaswamy have said about Medicaid and SNAP:
- Acton has said she would fight “against attacks on Medicaid” coming from Columbus or Washington, D.C. She also repeats that she wants to help eligible Ohioans stay on Medicaid. For SNAP, Acton’s campaign said she would work to find solutions to fill any funding gaps caused by the One Big Beautiful Bill.
- Ramaswamy has spoken about “crushing” or “solving” the Medicaid fraud epidemic. The money saved by cracking down on fraud could go toward lowering healthcare costs, he has said. His plan for the SNAP program includes putting work requirements into place and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, according to a campaign spokesman.
Medicaid fraud can include, among other things, healthcare providers billing the government for care they never provided or that was unnecessary. SNAP fraud can include buying or selling benefits for cash, or when recipients’ benefits are stolen.
What did the Ohio Governor candidates say about Medicaid?
Amy Acton
Acton said she would cut red tape and shorten wait times to help eligible Ohioans get and keep Medicaid. She also supports Medicaid work requirements, which some Democrats have opposed over concerns they create more paperwork.
Her campaign said she would create a “navigator” program to help people meet those requirements and stay enrolled, and she will work with lawmakers to fund county benefits offices. She has also pledged to combat Medicaid fraud.
Signal Cleveland asked Acton’s campaign for more specifics on the types of Medicaid work requirements she supports, including who they would apply to and how she would respond if the federal government repealed their work requirements. Her campaign did not answer these questions.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Ramaswamy has never held elected office, but he’s supported Medicaid work requirements since at least 2024, when he told the New York Times that he believed Medicaid and welfare was a mistake without work requirements attached. Ramaswamy’s campaign has since issued a statement to other media saying he believes Medicaid is a vital program.
Through his campaign, Ramaswamy has primarily talked about eliminating Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse. He laid out a plan to incentivize the State of Ohio to prosecute Medicaid fraud, which would allow Ohio to keep more of the money it recovers from fraud instead of sending it to Washington.
Ramaswamy has said that the money generated from these prosecutions could go back into “citizens’ pockets.” It’s not clear whether that includes people on Medicaid or residents with other types of health insurance.
Some examples he shared of how that money could be spent include reducing healthcare premiums or assisting people with co-pays for doctors’ appointments. (Most residents with Medicaid don’t pay premiums and already have small co-pays.) Ramaswamy has also said that the money could go toward “rural hospital stabilization, local emergency services and community health centers.”
So who would get hit in this fraud crackdown? It could include healthcare providers who aren’t providing the medical services they claim, Ramaswamy said in a press conference last May. It could also be “individuals … claiming to work while not actually working” once Medicaid’s new work requirements are added next year, he added.
What did the Ohio Governor candidates say about SNAP?
Amy Acton
Acton would advocate to restore SNAP benefits to the levels they were at before the One Big Beautiful Bill, according to a statement from her campaign. She would also look for solutions to fill the funding gap created by that bill, which cut money for the state to pass out SNAP benefits and could push millions of dollars in costs onto the state.
Additionally, Acton would consider expanding the Produce Perks program, which doubles the value of SNAP benefits when purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables, her campaign said in a statement.
Acton’s campaign also said she would work to make it harder for criminals to steal SNAP benefits.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Ramaswamy’s plan for SNAP involves “addressing overpayments, implementing work requirements, and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the system,” according to a statement from campaign spokesperson Evan Machan.
Ramaswamy would work with counties to bring down improper payments to prevent the state from having to bear any future cost of the SNAP program, Machan added. The One Big Beautiful Bill makes states with high rates of incorrect payments pay more of the cost of the program.
Ramaswamy’s campaign did not respond to a question about whether he believes county Job and Family Services offices need more funding as they deal with federal cuts and more paperwork. On the campaign trail, he did say that he wants to consolidate the various departments that pass out Medicaid and SNAP benefits — including Job and Family Services — into one system.
Health and Human Services Levy
This November, the county is asking residents to support a health and human services levy, or a new property tax. It will appear as Issue 11 on ballots.
The money raised through the levy would go to safety-net programs like senior services and universal pre-K. But it would also pay for more staff at the county’s Job and Family Services department, which signs residents up for SNAP and Medicaid.
Why does the county need more property tax dollars to help distribute SNAP and Medicaid?
The One Big Beautiful Bill cut a large chunk of money to help states pass out SNAP benefits, county leaders say. Cuyahoga County’s Job and Family Services department expects to lose between $7.5 million to $10 million a year as a result. That money helped pay for staff.
Due to the expected cuts and rising expenses, the county has had a hiring freeze for over a year. Staffing at the county’s Job and Family Services department has fallen 13% since last October, said Kevin Gowan, the director of Cuyahoga Job and Family Services, in September.
At the same time, caseworkers in the department have to deal with the new work requirements in SNAP and Medicaid and other changes to the programs. Meanwhile, more people are calling the county for help with their benefits.
So average wait times to get assistance with benefits over the phone rose from about 20 to 40 minutes over the last year in Cuyahoga County. More people are also abandoning their calls to the eligibility center — hanging up or failing to reach someone by the end of the business day. Last September, about 21% of all calls were abandoned. This September, about 44% were.
How could the outcome of the Health and Human Services levy change my Medicaid and SNAP benefits?
Residents have long complained about lengthy waits to reach county benefits workers. Hiring more staff could shorten those waits, county Health and Human Services Director David Merriman said at a recent community meeting.
That’s what some of the money raised with the levy is supposed to go to — filling vacant frontline staff positions at the county’s Job and Family Services department, according to county spokesperson Jennifer Ciaccia. Those staff take phone calls from residents and process applications for SNAP, Medicaid and other benefit programs.
“We know how frustrating it is for clients that are sitting on the phone sometimes for hours and sometimes the next day,” Merriman said. “No one wants that.”
What is the argument against the levy?
There’s no established opposition campaign to the levy. But it will clearly raise property taxes, at a time when many people are concerned about affordability in general.
The tax would add $87.50 per year per $100,000 in property value.
And that’s on top of two existing health and human service levies. Altogether, if the levy increase passes, voters would be paying about $420 per year per $100,000 in property value for health and human services, according to numbers Merriman shared at a county council meeting earlier this year.
Is there anything we don’t know yet about the levy?
The county told Signal Cleveland it will use the money generated from the levy increase to fill positions within the Job and Family Services Department. But they would not say how many staff they would hire.
“It’s too early to determine how the outcome of the levy will affect caseworker staffing levels,” wrote county spokesperson Kelly Woodard.
Similarly, the county did not say what their plan is if the levy fails, such as whether they will lay off staff with the Job and Family Services department.
