Doctors Fight Back in the Midterms

A group of more than thirty doctors, nurses and other health experts have entered this year’s congressional races. They say they want to stop what they see as the Trump and Kennedy administrations’ harmful health policies, such as cutting Medicare and ending federal insurance subsidies. Some of them are also running for governor in Maine, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Biden White House is beginning to treat vaccine doubt as a weakness. President Trump just picked Dr. Erica Schwartz, a pro‑vaccine doctor, to head the CDC. Kennedy has stopped talking about vaccines lately. For many doctors, Kennedy’s new role was a breaking point. The candidates put health care front and center. They link it to the big worry that voters have: how much healthcare costs. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement pushed Trump in 2024 by promising healthy food, cleaner air and less corporate influence. He has also cut funding for the CDC, NIH and Veterans Affairs to save money. Doctors in politics are not new. In 2018 Dr. Kim Schrier, a pediatrician from Washington, flipped a red district to blue. A nurse, Lauren Underwood, did the same in Illinois. In 2022 Dr. Josh Green became governor of Hawaii. This year more Democratic doctors ran for Congress.

In South Carolina, Dr. Andrews, a 45‑year‑old pediatrician who worked at MUSC Children’s Hospital for fourteen years, is challenging Senator Lindsey Graham. She says her real target is Kennedy because he spread vaccine misinformation that led to a measles outbreak and eroded trust in doctors. Andrews is backed by Emily’s List, which supports women who want abortion rights. In California, Dr. Jasmeet Bains, a family doctor and state lawmaker, is running against Republican Rep. David Valadao after he voted for a 2025 bill that cut Medicaid. Two‑thirds of Bains’s district rely on Medicaid, the highest share in the country. Other doctors across the country have similar stories. Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatrician in California, ran for office again after seeing vaccine policy change and health care become less affordable. Dr. Darren McAuley, a former VA pain‑management doctor in Florida, entered the race after budget cuts made it harder to serve veterans and increased suicide risk among young vets. In Philadelphia, Dr. Ala Stanford, a pediatric surgeon, began a campaign after the pandemic revealed health inequities in Black communities. She opened a primary care clinic for North Philadelphia residents and is now running in a tight three‑way race, also backed by Emily’s List. These doctors face tough odds. They are up against incumbents with strong fundraising and name recognition, and many have little political experience. Yet they argue that health care must be the priority for voters who worry about rising costs and broken policies.

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