To Dr. Richard Pan, a California-based pediatrician, the idea of living a long, healthy life should not be a partisan issue.
Unfortunately, it’s become one: He knows that topics like vaccines, healthcare, and science at large are now extremely politicized, and that whoever has the power to shape our policies can have a big impact on the health of Americans.
Pan has seen that firsthand in his time serving in California’s state assembly and then senate, where he authored landmark legislation around vaccines, health insurance, and even a law that led California to produce its own insulin—which paved the way for the state to offer the medicine for as low as $11.
Now, Pan is running for Congress, motivated by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda and broad issues around healthcare affordability.
“I swore in medical school as part of my oath to help people and improve health,” he says. “Part of my career commitment would be to say, ‘Okay, well, I tried doing that at the state [level] and succeeded. Now I need to go to the federal government.”
Pan is part of a wave of experts in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) who are running for Congressional seats in response to the Trump administration’s attacks on science, facts, and also affordability.
From doctors to scientists to math teachers, Democratic candidates, frustrated with the federal government’s actions, see an opportunity to use their STEM skills to win seats in Congress, and eventually shape policies that help the public.
While some of these candidates have prior political experience, others are completely new to politics.
RFK Jr. as a tipping point
Pan first ran for California’s state assembly in 2010 after witnessing the effects of the Great Recession. The state struggled to pass a new budget, and funding shortfalls led to cuts to various health services.
“I decided things were so bad that I would throw my hat in the ring and run,” he says. He flipped the Republican seat.
Pan served in the State Assembly until 2014, and the state Senate from 2014 to 2022, before returning to medicine full-time.
When RFK Jr. was announced as the Health and Human Services secretary, though, Pan saw it as a “tipping point.” He had already confronted RFK’s vaccine skepticism as a state lawmaker, and he saw RFK’s role in Trump’s administration as something that could upend everything he worked on to help Californians.
At the state level, Pan authored legislation that restricted vaccine exceptions; that law went into effect the same year California saw a massive measles outbreak.
California hasn’t had such a large outbreak since. But measles cases are surging across the country, and RFK Jr. has been behind much measles vaccine misinformation. That risks everyone, Pan says. As cases increase, risks rise even for vaccinated individuals.
When RFK Jr. spread false claims about vaccines during his Senate testimony, people started calling Pan—reporters, community members—asking what he was going to do about all the health protections being undone by the federal government.
“I said ‘OK, then I’m going to Congress, because that’s where the problem is now,’” he says. Pan is running for the House in California’s 6th District. That seat is currently held by Democrat Ami Bera, who is challenging a Republican in the redrawn 3rd District.
“Evidence and reason and the facts”
Pan isn’t the only STEM expert who was asked to take action in response to the Trump administration.
Manny Rutinel, a microbiologist, first responder, and environmental lawyer, says community members asked him to step into the political ring for both his position in the Colorado legislature and his run for Congress.
Rutinel is now running to represent Colorado’s 8th district—a seat Democrats lost by less than 1 point in 2024. The incumbent, Republican Gabe Evans, is running again, and multiple race ratings have called a “toss up” for 2026.
To Rutinel, the stakes of both his campaign, and similar campaigns across the country, are clear.
“To be able to put a stop to the horrors of what the Trump administration and RFK Jr. are doing to our government, our institutions, our services, we need to take back Congress,” he says.
He already sees his science background, along with his working-class background, reaching potential voters. In the first quarter of 2025 fundraising, his campaign raised more than $1.1 million, with an average donation of $32.
“The message is resonating,” he says. “We want folks who are standing up for what’s right, who are using evidence and reason and the facts to be able to put forth legislation that actually helps people instead of hurting them.”
Problem-solving mentalities
Jake Johnson has taught high school math for the past 20 years. He’s never been involved in politics, but now he’s running to represent Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District—a seat currently held by Republican Brad Finstad.
He knows his reasoning could sound like a cliche, but he stands by it.
“I genuinely have enjoyed solving problems for two decades,” he says, “and I think that sort of spirit and mindset is something that is maybe missing a little bit in Washington these days.”
The neighbors in his district seem to like that problem-solving mentality, too. Johnson’s campaign raised $100,000 the first day it launched. In both Q2 and Q3 of 2025, he outraised Finstad; Johnson’s average donation is under $50.
Though he’s completely new to politics, Johnson is hopeful about his campaign; he describes himself as a “crazy optimist.”
He’s also buoyed by the other STEM candidates he sees running across the country, many who are—like him, Pan, and Rutinel—backed by 314 Action, a PAC that is specifically working with STEM candidates in response to the Trump administration.
“We live in such a time of polarization where people get their ‘facts’ from different sources [and] when we can’t agree on basic fundamentals, we can’t have powerful, thoughtful conversations as a community,” he says. “We’ve got to get back to establishing some truths as much as we possibly can.”
Public confidence in scientists
Already in 2026, 314 Action is working with more than 150 STEM candidates nationwide.
Many of those races are for Congress: beyond Pan, Rutinel, and Johnson, the PAC is backing Bale Dalton, former chief of staff at NASA and first-time political candidate running for Florida’s 7th District; and Audrey Denney, an agricultural scientist and educator running in California’s 1st District, among others.
There are also STEM candidates running at more local levels, like Nirav Shah, who was director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and who is now running for Maine’s governorship.
Americans’ public trust in government has been eroding. Only 17% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” or even “most of the time,” according to Pew Research.
But they still largely trust scientists. A January 2025 Pew Research study found that 77% of U.S. adults say they have a “great deal” or “fair” amount of coincidence in scientists acting in the public’s best interest.
Public confidence in scientists has dropped slightly since the start of the pandemic, but scientists continue to rank higher in confidence than elected officials or business leaders.
To 314 Action, the current debates in Congress over vaccines, healthcare, and more point to a need for more STEM candidates. The PAC both recruits candidates and reaches out to candidates already running; recently, it said that all of its 150-plus STEM candidates outraised their opponents in the last quarter of 2025.
The PAC has faced criticism for taking and concealing donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, in a 2024 Oregon Congressional race; 314 Action pushed back against the reporting at the time before campaign documents became public.
“As Trump and RFK Jr. ramp up their attacks on science and health care, 314 Action’s mission to recruit and elect more Democrats with science backgrounds has never been more urgent,” Erik Polyak, 314 Action’s executive director, said in a statement. “We work with a broad political coalition of individuals and organizations laser-focused on advancing winning campaigns.”
To some, it might not be obvious that STEM experts would enter politics. Members of Congress tend to come from fields like law or business primarily (though education and public service are also dominant backgrounds).
But to Dr. Pan, and others in STEM currently running for office, the idea makes clear sense. Pan cites Rudolf Virchow, the father of modern pathology, who said that “politics is nothing but medicine at a larger scale.”
“The nature of politics right now demands that we actually enter the political field and practice medicine on a larger scale, as Virchow said, because it’s under attack,” Pan says. “One of the major sources of the problem right now is the current administration and the current people in Congress.”