About half a dozen Democratic doctors and nurses won congressional races in the midterm elections, with several flipping Republican-held seats. Many made health policy and opposition to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda central to their campaigns.
In South Carolina, pediatrician Annie Andrews was elected to the Senate after repeatedly describing Kennedy as her “archnemesis.” She and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed appear to be the first Democratic doctors elected to the Senate in about 60 years.
California pediatrician Richard Pan, a former state legislator who worked to tighten vaccine exemptions, defeated incumbent Kevin Kiley, who had left the Republican Party and ran as an independent. Other candidates who flipped House districts included Kristina Knickerbocker, an oncology nurse practitioner in Ohio, and Mitchell Berman, a former Veterans Affairs nurse in Wisconsin. Emergency room physician Amish Shah appeared on track to win a competitive Arizona district, while plastic surgeon Adam Hamawy won a safe Democratic seat in New Jersey.
Erik Polyak, executive director of 314 Action, said Kennedy had been the organization’s leading tool for recruiting candidates and raising funds. The group spent $30 million supporting Democratic scientists and health care professionals.
The candidates’ gains came amid broader Democratic momentum on election night, but some also campaigned on their professional experience. Kristoffer Shields, director of Rutgers-New Brunswick’s Eagleton Science and Politics Program, said their medical backgrounds appeared to resonate with voters and could lend credibility among colleagues in Congress.
Their arrival adds to the number of Democratic medical professionals elected since 2018, when doctors and scientists ran in opposition to President Trump’s first administration. Shields said a doctors’ caucus could emerge in the party. He expects priorities may include making Affordable Care Act coverage more affordable, potentially by restoring subsidies that expired last year, and simplifying insurance processes for patients.
Sources: The New York Times Politics.