Credit: Myselfsour2724/Wikimedia Commons
Among the winners who helped flip the House and Senate yesterday during the midterm elections were six doctors and public health professionals who were supported by 3.14 Action Fund, a political action committee dedicated to bolstering Democratic candidates with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) backgrounds.
Voters are sending medical professionals back to Washington to fight for access to affordable healthcare and stop the bleeding.
“The last time a Democratic doctor sat in the Senate, Congress passed Medicare and Medicaid. Sixty years later, voters are sending medical professionals back to Washington to fight for access to affordable healthcare and stop the bleeding,” said 3.14 Action President Shaughnessy Naughton in a statement.
Among the winners were Amy Acton, MD, MPH, the new governor of Ohio, and Abdul El-Sayed, MD, DPhil, the newly elected senator from Michigan. Both Acton and El-Sayed have public health backgrounds. Acton was the director of the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and El-Sayed was Wayne County’s director of public health and county health officer from March 2023 until April 2025.
Pediatrician Annie Andrews, MD, also defeated Darlene Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat.
Group calls to remove Kennedy from office
With a Democratic House and Senate, the advocacy group Defend Public Health (DPH) are calling for swift action against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“We face a genuine public health emergency due to Secretary Kennedy’s relentless malfeasance and dishonesty plus the administration’s brutal funding cuts,” said DPH Coordinating Committee member Julie Scofield in a statement.
“The new and re-energized Congress can begin to stop the damage and start rebuilding—by reasserting its Constitutional authority over spending and investigating and fully airing Kennedy’s record of dishonesty and public health malpractice—a process that should lead to impeaching and removing Kennedy from office.”
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on November 5, 2026, to correct Dr Abdul El-Sayed’s professional degrees.