Doctors and scientists sweep the US midterms, as healthcare becomes the defining issue

A political organisation that worked to elect Democratic doctors and scientists is calling the wave of their victories across the United States midterm elections the 'Stem swing' and the 'revenge of the nerds'. The wins come after years of cuts and upheaval to US health and science infrastructure.

Democrats spent big on health-related advertising, and voters rejected the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement, the report said.

Erik Polyak, executive director of 3.14 Action, a group that worked to elect Democratic health professionals and scientists across the country, said: 'It's clear from the results: 2026 was a healthcare election. We've heard a lot about affordability. Healthcare affordability is the No 1 piece of that. Our doctors and scientists are certainly well-equipped to lead on those issues.'

Among the history-making lawmakers are Democrats Dr Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and Dr Annie Andrews of South Carolina. The last time a Democratic doctor held a seat in the US Senate was in 1969, the era when Medicare and Medicaid were passed into law.

3.14 Action is still tallying wins and waiting for results among 'hundreds' of obscure state races, some of which are not even reporting results yet.

Dr Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said in a statement: 'The voters' message is simple and clear: enough.' He said people across America are frustrated by the high cost of living, exhausted trying to make ends meet, and fed up with a ridiculously expensive and complicated healthcare system.

Doctors and scientists have long held leadership roles in Congress, but until this election the overwhelming majority were Republican, the report said. From 2011 to 2020, 86% of the physician-members of Congress were Republican and three-quarters were from southern states.

The 2026 election turned that on its head. Republicans like Dr Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Senate candidate Dr Roger Marshall, both allies of US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, lost. Races for three more Republican doctors were too close to call. Meanwhile, all incumbent Democratic doctors won their races.

According to the report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lost up to one-third of its staff in the midst of a record-breaking measles outbreak. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world's largest public funder of biomedical research, lost leadership and saw path-breaking research stymied amid disruptions, cancellations and censorship. On election day, New York health authorities announced that a child in the state had died of measles for the first time in 30 years.

Healthcare was the second-biggest issue in campaign ads, according to the Cook Political Report, with Democrats running more than 158,000 healthcare-related ads versus 61,000 for Republicans. 3.14 Action alone spent $23m on independent ads.

In Ohio, Dr Amy Acton prevailed; her experience as a health director during Covid-19 turned out to be an asset rather than a liability. In Iowa, Democrat Christina Bohannan, who is not a doctor but a law professor, pledged to spend more on research as rising cancer rates became a bipartisan political issue in the state.

Polyak said: 'Americans who believe in science are fired up. We've flipped at least 10 Republican seats and the final number is the low 30s. Flipping control of the House in 2026 ran through Democratic doctors and scientists, and we led the charge.'

The most draconian cuts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act go into effect on New Year's Day 2027, among them work requirements for Medicaid, the report said. All told, cuts are expected to result in 17 million people losing insurance in the next decade.