Arabic version: مرشحو الصحة العامة يحققون مكاسب في انتخابات التجديد النصفي الأميركية

According to The Guardian, candidates who made public health and healthcare central to their campaigns won offices across the United States in last week’s midterm elections. Voters faced rising vaccine-preventable diseases, foodborne illness outbreaks, healthcare costs and concerns over reproductive health.

Julie Scofield of the grassroots organization Defend Public Health described the results as “a complete repudiation” of President Trump’s policies. She said more candidates with public-health backgrounds had made these issues central to their platforms. Democrats also flipped state houses and legislatures in several states, changes experts said could reshape policies on abortion, gender-affirming care and vaccines.

Annie Andrews, who campaigned on impeaching health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and improving vaccination rates, will become the first pediatrician in the US Senate. Abdul El-Sayed was elected senator from Michigan, while Amy Acton won Ohio’s governorship. In Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of a US state, and microbiologist Jasmine Clark won a seat in the US House.

Other winners included pediatrician Richard Pan in California, emergency medicine doctor Amish Shah in Arizona and surgeon Adam Hamawy in New Jersey. Voters in several states rejected proposed abortion restrictions, while Virginia passed a constitutional amendment enshrining marriage equality and reproductive rights. Scofield said Congress could act on Medicaid, Snap and premium tax credits, while many public-health decisions would remain at state and local levels.