Public health wins big in US midterms as doctors and scientists take office

Voters rattled by an unprecedented rise in vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles — plus devastating foodborne illness outbreaks — sent public health champions into office at every level of US government last week. Julie Scofield, on the coordinating committee of grassroots group Defend Public Health, didn't mince words: it was a rejection of President Trump and the policies he's rolled out since taking office. She called the results a complete repudiation.

The roster of new arrivals reads like a hospital directory. Annie Andrews will be the first pediatrician in the US Senate, running on impeaching health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and on lifting vaccination rates after measles tore through her home state of South Carolina. Pediatrician Richard Pan, who as a California state senator wrote the law scrapping religious and personal vaccine exemptions and later sparred with Kennedy over it, moves to the US House. Emergency medicine doctor Amish Shah flipped an Arizona House seat, New Jersey surgeon Adam Hamawy won a House seat partly on affordable healthcare, Ohio governor-elect Amy Acton and Michigan senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed both led Covid responses their rivals tried to weaponize against them.

Georgia, home of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, delivered its own jolt: Keisha Lance Bottoms is now the first Black woman ever elected governor of a US state, after clashing with Republican governor Brian Kemp over Covid measures as Atlanta's mayor. Microbiologist Jasmine Clark heads to the US House. Senator Jon Ossoff closed his re-election victory speech by promising healthcare for every single American.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton spent his tenure investigating pediatricians for giving vaccines, suing providers in other states over mailed abortion pills, and declaring gender-affirming care for minors child abuse. According to the Guardian, his successor has already said he'll drop several of those lawsuits.

Democrats flipped state houses and legislatures across several states, reshaping abortion, gender-affirming care and vaccine policy. Voters in multiple states rejected abortion restrictions, and Virginia passed a constitutional amendment enshrining marriage equality and reproductive rights. Scofield said anti-trans attack ads aimed at Democratic candidates backfired. She was less pleased that Andrews and Texas's James Talarico softened their support for gender-affirming care, saying there is no doubt educating remains to be done — Defend Public Health, she added, stays squarely behind full access to that care. Anti-trans initiatives in Washington and Colorado appear to have passed, though Democratic leaders there are already questioning whether they're constitutional.

Austin scientist Mallory Harris almost put off having children over fears she couldn't get vaccines or an abortion, then learned she was pregnant just as 2026 became the worst US measles year since before she was born. After the election, she said, it suddenly became a lot less scary. She noted voters turned out for pro-public-health candidates, directly against what officials like NIH director Jay Bhattacharya and Kennedy seem to have read as their mandate. Scofield expects Congress to move on restoring Medicaid and Snap cuts, addressing premium tax credits, and ensuring the CDC and NIH deploy funds properly — but stressed much public health authority sits with the states.