At least 125 doctors, nurses and public health experts are appearing on ballots for Tuesday’s midterm elections, an unprecedented showing for professions that historically offered fewer routes into elected office than law or business.

The campaigns follow the upheaval of Covid-19, when doctors and health officials were initially celebrated, then overwhelmed by years of work and tragedy. Some also became targets as distrust and political conflict surrounded their public messages.

Several candidates say the pandemic revealed how closely medicine, science and public health are connected to government. Their professional experience taught them to listen, assess evidence and help people understand difficult choices.

“One of the things you learn to do in medicine is to listen and sit with somebody in pain and help them to clarify what the opportunities are, based on your knowledge about how the body or their health works, and I find that the work of politics is really quite similar,” said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.

El-Sayed, a former health director for Wayne County, Michigan, is running for the US Senate against Republican Mike Rogers. In Ohio, preventive medicine specialist Dr. Amy Acton is running for governor as a Democrat against Republican biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former congressman and President Joe Biden’s former secretary of health and human services, is seeking the California governorship against Republican media personality Steve Hilton. South Carolina pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews is running as a Democrat for the US Senate against Republican Sen. Darline Graham.

Other candidates bring experience from the health care industry. Health care attorney Cinde Warmington, a Democrat, is running for governor of New Hampshire, while Jackson Healthcare founder and CEO Rick Jackson, a Republican, is seeking the governorship in Georgia.

Historian Dr. Kristoffer Shields, director of the Eagleton Center on the American Governor at Rutgers University, said he had not seen anything quite like the current wave. He noted that the connection between science and politics has traditionally been weak.

Less than 10% of the current Congress holds a medical, public health or engineering degree. By comparison, 47% of senators and 31% of House members have law degrees.

Four senators with health backgrounds, all Republican doctors, currently serve: John Barrasso of Wyoming, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Roger Marshall of Kansas and Rand Paul of Kentucky. The House includes 17 physicians, four dentists, two pharmacists, a nurse practitioner, an optometrist and a rehabilitation therapist.

Representation is even smaller in state legislatures. About 3% of state lawmakers had medical, science or engineering backgrounds as of March 2025, according to a Rutgers analysis of the Scientists in State Politics Database, a decline of 25% from the previous year.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green is the only US governor with a medical degree, and no governor has a public health degree. No doctor has served as president, although ninth President William Henry Harrison attended medical school before leaving when he could no longer afford it.

Interest in running has surged at 314 Action, a political action committee that recruits, trains and assists Democratic candidates with science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds. Executive director Erik Polyak said the organization received more than 700 applications, compared with about 200 during a typical election cycle.

The American Medical Association has long encouraged political involvement through a candidate workshop and campaign school for members. AMA President Dr. Willie Underwood said physicians already practice persistent advocacy when insurance requirements or other barriers prevent patients from receiving care.

Public health professionals have shown similar interest. Dr. Kristin Hook, a former staffer at the US National Institutes of Health and the US Government Accountability Office, said people across the country contacted her for advice after her unsuccessful 2024 campaign as a Democrat in Texas’ 21st Congressional District.

Hook is running for the same seat again and describes the Trump administration’s actions as an attack on science. She cited the firing of thousands of federal doctors and scientists, billions in research funding cuts, vanished government datasets and websites, and challenges to water fluoridation and childhood vaccines.

Health care is among the largest household expenses worrying voters, alongside gasoline prices, according to polls. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is expected to leave 10 million more people without insurance, which experts describe as one of the largest reversals of health insurance coverage.

The pandemic also transformed previously obscure public health officials into highly visible figures. Some received death threats and hate mail, while a record number left their positions and others became local folk heroes.

Acton said support from Ohio residents outweighed the protesters who appeared at her home. She worked alongside Republican Gov. Mike DeWine during the pandemic and said they focused on saving lives while placing health and well being above politics.

Winning over voters angry about pandemic vaccine policies, masking requirements and closed schools or businesses may remain difficult. Republican consultant Woodrow Johnston said distrust of the medical profession has grown among Republicans since Covid-19, although he has recently helped more Republican candidates with medical or public health backgrounds win office.

Shields argued that scientific expertise is needed for challenges involving access to care, artificial intelligence, renewable energy and the climate crisis. Acton said health professionals in government could improve more lives by addressing the social, economic and environmental conditions that shape health and prosperity.