The surge of medical professionals entering the 2026 midterm races reflects what many of them describe as a response to policies implemented by the Trump administration and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who as secretary of health and human services has overseen a sweeping reorganization of federal health agencies, including cutting 20,000 positions and reducing public health funding by more than $12 billion, according to reporting by The Guardian. Candidates said they were motivated by firsthand experience treating patients affected by the cuts and by the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases that had been nearly eradicated in the United States.
Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and public-health Ph.D. who rebuilt Detroit\u2019s health department after the city\u2019s bankruptcy, is running for U.S. Senate from Michigan on a Medicare for All platform. He said his time in public health taught him that the conditions that make people sick are shaped by policy. \u201cI went from an ivory tower to the bowels of city government,\u201d El-Sayed said. \u201cBut it\u2019s because I recognize that so much of what makes us sick and keeps us sick is a function of structures that are downstream of public policy.\u201d
In California\u2019s 6th congressional district, pediatrician and former state senator Richard Pan is running in the June 2 primary with a campaign explicitly framed as a counter-offensive against what he called a systematic attack on evidence-based governance. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a long-term bipartisan consensus that science should drive our health decisions,\u201d Pan said. \u201cThe FDA was a scientific agency, NIH was a scientific agency, the CDC was a scientific agency. But this administration has gotten rid of a lot of the scientists.\u201d
Jasmine Clark, a microbiologist who teaches at Emory University\u2019s nursing school and recently won her Democratic primary for Georgia\u2019s 13th congressional district, said the return of infectious diseases previously declared eradicated was a driving force in her decision to run. \u201cI am appalled seeing infectious diseases spreading through our communities that we had once declared eradicated,\u201d Clark said. She described the administration\u2019s health policies as reminiscent of historical abuses, comparing testing protocols on impoverished populations abroad to the Tuskegee project.
Adam Hamawy, a combat surgeon running for New Jersey\u2019s 12th congressional district, said his experience treating people during war and in disaster zones, including Gaza, shaped his conviction that healthcare is a human right. He is running on a Medicare for All platform. \u201cWhen you were called to operate — we were on call 24 hours a day and seven days a week for months at a time — you just did it no matter what was happening. You were often the only hope that the person in front of you had,\u201d Hamawy said.
In South Carolina, pediatrician Annie Andrews — endorsed by Emily\u2019s List and focusing on the state\u2019s measles outbreak — trails four-term Republican Senator Lindsey Graham by only a few points in the polls, according to reports cited by The Guardian. Andrews has made the outbreak a central issue in her campaign.
Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something, which recruits progressive candidates for lower-level offices, said the medical wave is also manifesting at the state and local level. \u201cBasically every elected body touches healthcare in some way,\u201d Litman said, noting that school boards, city councils, and state legislatures all affect health outcomes. \u201cHaving people in these governing bodies that really understand the issue from the perspective of a provider matters deeply.\u201d
Not every candidate has succeeded. In Texas\u2019s 15th congressional district, emergency room physician Dr. Ada Cuellar lost her March primary to Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, who captured more than 67% of the vote. \u201cI don\u2019t have any regrets because I still made a difference,\u201d Cuellar said. \u201cI raised issues about healthcare that put pressure on my opponent and the incumbent. Hopefully, I get to run in the future.\u201d
The midterm elections will test whether medical credentials and the message of restoring science-based health policy can overcome well-funded opponents and redrawn districts. Clark, who if elected in November would become the first Black woman with a doctoral degree in science to serve in Congress, said scientists have long ceded politics to others. \u201cMore and more scientists are now realizing that we actually do play a role, policy does impact us and we should have some say in the decisions being made,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of if, but when, is the next pandemic, and are we going to be prepared? We need those perspectives in the room.\u201d