The Doctor Will Seek Your Vote Now

When Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, told voters gathered at the Friendship Baptist Church in Aiken, S.C., earlier this spring why she was running for the Senate, she explained that she wanted to fix the American health care system and fully fund Medicaid.....

Dr. Andrews, 45, is among more than three dozen Democratic doctors, nurses and other health professionals who have jumped into this year’s races for Congress, in what they hope will offer a chance to push back against the health policies of the Trump administration and Mr. Kennedy. Dozens more are running in down-ballot races, and a few are running for governor in Maine, Ohio and Wisconsin.

There have been indications that the White House is beginning to see vaccine skepticism as a vulnerability in the midterms: This week President Trump selected Dr. Erica Schwartz, a physician who supports vaccines, as his nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Mr. Kennedy has largely stopped talking about vaccines in recent weeks.

For some of the doctors running for office, like Dr. Andrews, the elevation of Mr. Kennedy to a health leadership role was the breaking point. For others, it was reductions to safety net programs like Medicaid and the decision to let federal health insurance subsidies expire. For still others, it was the Trump administration’s cuts to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs, enacted to reduce federal spending and advance Mr. Trump’s policy priorities.




https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/us/politics/democratic-doctors-running-for-congress.html