Voters in Massachusetts deserve leaders who put their interests first. Unfortunately, Congressman Jake Auchincloss’s record shows he’s more focused on protecting the special interests that helped send him to Washington than on easing the financial burden his constituents face in their day-to-day lives.

Specifically, Auchincloss talks a good game about lowering drug prices and out-of-pocket expenses at the pharmacy counter. He’s quick to accuse others of ethical failings, recently grilling Trump administration officials over alleged conflicts of interest at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But he seems blind to the glaring conflicts in his own backyard.

During his first congressional campaign in 2020, Auchincloss benefited from more than half a million dollars in super PAC support, with major contributions coming from pharmaceutical executives and health care investors. His mother, Dr. Laurie Glimcher, then a board member of GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol Myers Squibb, gave more than $100,000 to the pro-Auchincloss super PAC. Today, she sits on the board of yet another biopharmaceutical company, ReAlta Life Sciences.

It doesn’t end there. Auchincloss’s sister is an executive vice president at Greenleaf Health, a consulting firm that helps pharmaceutical companies navigate the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process. Even Greenleaf’s chief executive officer, a longtime Republican donor, contributed $5,000 to Auchincloss’s super PAC, in a clear sign that the congressman’s relationships cross partisan lines when it comes to serving industry interests.

These ties explain a lot about Auchincloss’s flagship bill, H.R. 9096, the Pharmacists Fight Back Act. On its face, it sounds like a pro-consumer measure to protect local pharmacists. But in reality, it’s a gift to pharmaceutical special interests that would dismantle one of the few remaining checks on drug prices:  Pharmacy Benefit Managers.

Sometimes called PBMs, Pharmacy Benefit Managers are far from perfect, but they remain the primary negotiators securing discounts that keep prescription drug costs from climbing even higher. Auchincloss’s proposal to ban spread pricing and impose minimum federal reimbursement rates would gut the ability of Pharmacy Benefit Managers to bargain for lower drug prices on behalf of employers, unions, and government plans.

The result?

Higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs for working families and seniors across Massachusetts while drug manufacturers walk away with even greater profits.

Yet Auchincloss continues to demonize Pharmacy Benefit Managers as the villain behind high prices, parroting a favorite talking point of pharmaceutical special interests that keeping such checks on drug prices would “stifle innovation.” It’s an argument Americans have heard for decades, despite overwhelming evidence that competition and transparency in the marketplace – not unchecked pricing power – have historically driven innovation.

This hypocrisy is hard to ignore. While Auchincloss builds his brand on cable news criticizing President Trump and the Make America Healthy Again movement and railing against purported conflicts of interest within the Trump administration, he fails to acknowledge the deep financial entanglements of his own family and campaign. If he truly believed in cleaning up Washington and holding health care officials to a higher ethical standard, he would start by taking a hard look at his own donor lists and family board seats before pointing fingers elsewhere.

At the end of the day, this is not a Republican or Democrat issue. It’s about whether our elected officials are fighting for you or fighting for the special interests that back them. Auchincloss claims to be standing up for patients, but his record reveals a politician advancing policies that will boost drug company profits while forcing families to pay more at the pharmacy.

Voters deserve better than empty slogans and bills written to benefit industry giants. They deserve leadership grounded in integrity – leadership willing to take on all parts of the drug pricing ecosystem, not just the convenient scapegoats. Congressman Auchincloss may have positioned himself as a defender of the people, but it’s time for voters to look past the headlines and see who he’s really representing.

Lia Fahey formerly chaired the Massachusetts Young Republicans.