Public health officials and politicians who have put health care at the heart of their agenda swept to power in the U.S. midterm elections last week, paving the way for change at the national, state and local levels.
Voters, facing an unprecedented rise in vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, as well as devastating outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, chose national candidates who prioritized public health, health care affordability, reproductive health and the impeachment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., among other key issues.
“The American people have been speaking out against President Trump and the policies he has been implementing since the day he took office,” said Julie Scofield, a member of the coordinating committee for the grassroots organization Defend Public Health. “I think it’s a complete rejection.”
Mallory Harris, an Austin scientist, almost delayed having children because she feared access to life-saving health care, like vaccines and abortion, if she needed it. She had doctors check her immunity to viruses, including measles, and asked her doctors to ensure she would have access to appropriate care. Harris found out she was pregnant just as 2026 officially became the worst year for measles in the United States since before she was born. Texas doesn’t have paid leave for maternity or paternity leave, but Harris and her husband will try to wait until the baby is six months old and can get a measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine before starting day care.
Dealing with public health emergencies like these has been “a major issue” for her as a voter. After the election, “all of a sudden it became a lot less scary,” Harris said. “We’ve seen scientists and doctors elected in record numbers. We’ve seen big changes in places that have had measles outbreaks.”
Democrats have flipped legislatures and legislatures in several states, and these leadership changes will radically reshape action on abortion, gender-affirming care, vaccines and more, experts say. Several candidates have successfully argued that cuts to Medicaid, Affordable Care Act subsidies, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) have harmed America and that rising prices – particularly in health care – are a big concern.
In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton investigated pediatricians who administered vaccines; they have sued providers, even in other states, for sending abortion pills through the mail; and stated that gender-affirming care of minors is considered child abuse. His successor has already announced that he will drop several such lawsuits.
In Georgia, home of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Keisha Lance Bottoms is now the first black woman ever elected governor of an American state. As mayor of Atlanta, Bottoms clashed with Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, over public health measures related to the Covid pandemic. Jasmine Clark, a microbiologist also from Georgia, will serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Jon Ossoff, re-elected to the Senate, concluded his victory speech by guaranteeing “health care for every American.”
Ohio Governor-elect Amy Acton and Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed have been public health leaders in the COVID response – which their opponents have unsuccessfully tried to use against them.
Annie Andrews will be the first pediatrician in the U.S. Senate and she campaigned to impeach Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy and pushed to improve vaccination rates after measles ravaged her home state of South Carolina.
Richard Pan, a pediatrician who served as a California state senator and will now serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, led the creation of a state law eliminating religious and personal exemptions to vaccination — and he fought with Kennedy over the change. Kennedy later apologized for calling vaccines a “holocaust.”
Amish Shah, an emergency room doctor, flipped a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in Arizona after campaigning on, among other things, improving public health. Adam Hamawy, a New Jersey surgeon, won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives by focusing in part on affordable health care.
“There were more candidates running in these midterm elections from a public health perspective and context that made this part of their platforms and the issues that they were talking about,” Scofield said. “I think it’s extraordinary.”
Voters in several states also rejected proposed restrictions on abortion, and Virginia passed a constitutional amendment to enshrine marriage equality and reproductive rights.
Several Democratic candidates have faced anti-trans ads from their opponents.
“The results show that these ads backfired,” Scofield said. “Anti-trans attacks haven’t worked.”
Candidates, including Andrews and James Talarico in Texas, shifted their public support for gender-affirming care, which was disappointing to see, she said: “We definitely have work to do on education.” » Organizations such as Defend Public Health will continue to “strongly and wholeheartedly support our transgender community and full access to gender-affirming care,” she added. “It’s just a failure for us.”
Anti-trans initiatives in states like Washington and Colorado appear to have passed, although Democratic leaders in those states have already begun to question whether they are constitutional.
“It’s extremely important for people to remember that much of the authority over public health rests with the states,” Scofield said. While Congress plays an important role in setting policy and funding state and local public health agencies, many public health decisions are made at the state and local level, she said.
At the federal level, it is likely that Congress will take steps to restore cuts to Medicaid and Snap, address premium tax credits and ensure funds are deployed appropriately by agencies such as the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Scofield said. Many of the administration’s actions to gut research and dismantle agencies were illegal and acted outside of Congress, she said.
Trump administration officials, including NIH chief Jay Bhattacharya and Kennedy, have often positioned themselves in opposition to what they describe as government overreach on Covid measures and vaccines.
“Voters were willing to vote for candidates who supported public health,” Harris said. This goes “directly” against what these health officials appear to have interpreted as their mandate, she said. After the election, she added, “a lot of things are going to change quickly, and there is also real damage that has been done and real risks that remain.”
Tuesday’s results reassured people like Harris who have faced more outbreaks of preventable diseases and more restrictions on abortion and other forms of health care than the United States has had in decades.
“It means a lot to see people elected who have spoken about these fears and addressed them head on,” Harris said. “It’s really important to have leaders who care about you and your family. »
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