A handful of former public health officials are campaigning for top statewide offices across the country, testing whether their experience with covid and other hot-button health issues will appeal to voters in November.<\/p>\n
The officials, all Democrats, are running at a time when the Trump administration is reducing government funding for scientific research, restricting access to some vaccines, and making it more difficult for some Americans to obtain health insurance.<\/p>\n
Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 3.14 Action, a political action committee that recruits Democratic candidates with science and health backgrounds, said it is unusual to see so many public health leaders running for office.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not surprising given the moment we are living in, with an arsonist running HHS working to undermine the vaccine schedule and public health at large,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who disparaged public health measures implemented during the pandemic, going as far as calling the covid vaccine the \u201cdeadliest vaccine ever made<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither HHS nor the White House responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Several of the candidates benefit from name recognition built during the covid pandemic, political science scholars say, when daily news briefings from local health officials became must-see-TV for many citizens sheltering in place from the novel virus. But that cuts two ways.<\/p>\n While many Americans regarded public health officials as offering prudent advice and a steady voice, others criticized them for pushing school closures, mask mandates, and new, quickly created vaccines. The attacks have escalated under President Donald Trump, with Republicans targeting pandemic-era public health leaders such as Anthony Fauci with investigations<\/a> and a former Fauci adviser even facing criminal prosecution<\/a>.<\/p>\n National polls show healthcare is top of mind<\/a> for many voters this year, with Democrats most worried about costs and Republicans about fraud. But that\u2019s no guarantee of victory. Nirav Shah, an epidemiologist who led Maine\u2019s top public health agency through the pandemic, lost a narrow Democratic primary in the state governor\u2019s race in June.<\/p>\n Here are some of the public health officials on the ballot this year:<\/p>\n Xavier Becerra, Running for Governor in California<\/strong><\/p>\n Xavier Becerra speaks to reporters in Los Angeles on Jan. 9. (David Crane\/MediaNews Group\/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Becerra, who served as HHS secretary under President Joe Biden, is the highest-ranking former health official running this cycle. He won a crowded and expensive open primary and now faces Republican Steve Hilton, a British-born former Fox News host, in the general election.<\/p>\n Mark Peterson, a public policy professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said with the pandemic in the rearview mirror, any judgment voters may have about the federal government\u2019s response is more likely to reflect on Biden rather than Becerra, who has no medical background and maintained a low profile as HHS secretary.<\/p>\n Leading the nation\u2019s health department as the pandemic lingered, Becerra focused more on expanding access to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, overseeing record numbers of people enrolled in the publicly financed programs during his tenure. He did face criticism over the processing and placement of a massive influx of migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as his agency\u2019s response to a baby formula shortage brought on, in part, by major product recalls.<\/p>\n Becerra has said he now wants to be California\u2019s \u201chealthcare governor,\u201d a mantle outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom tried to claim upon taking office in 2019.<\/p>\n Becerra\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Before becoming HHS secretary, Becerra served as California\u2019s attorney general and sued the first Trump administration more than 100 times, leading a coalition of states against GOP efforts to gut the ACA. He also started a unit in his office focused solely on healthcare. During Becerra\u2019s tenure, his office reached a $575 million antitrust settlement with the California hospital system Sutter Health, pursued pharmaceutical companies that delayed generic drugs<\/a>, and helped block a Trump administration rule that let employers choose whether to cover birth control<\/a>.<\/p>\n Voters often regard decades of experience in government as a negative, Peterson said. But for the job of running the nation\u2019s most populous state and the world\u2019s fourth-largest economy, he added, \u201cI think there are a lot of people out there who would like to have somebody who actually has run a big enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n In televised debates<\/a>, Becerra has said California should maintain state-funded Medicaid coverage for immigrants without legal status. He is also a longtime supporter<\/a> of implementing single-payer healthcare, though in recent interviews he has said it needs to be addressed at the federal level.<\/p>\n Amy Acton, Running for Governor in Ohio<\/strong><\/p>\n Amy Acton addresses attendees at a campaign rally in Cincinnati on April 28. (Jon Cherry\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Acton ran Ohio\u2019s health department from February 2019 to June 2020.<\/p>\n During the first months of the pandemic, Acton appeared at daily news conferences with the state\u2019s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, that were jokingly dubbed \u201cWine With DeWine<\/a>.\u201d She earned fans with her calm and positive demeanor while explaining her approach to keeping covid at bay.<\/p>\n But she also attracted critics with her recommendations to stay at home, mask up, and shut down some businesses to curb the virus\u2019 spread. Protesters even showed up at her home.<\/p>\n Acton\u2019s Republican opponent in the governor\u2019s race, Vivek Ramaswamy, has labeled her \u201cDr. Lockdown\u201d on social media. His criticism of her role in shutting down businesses could prove effective with the economy at the top of many people\u2019s minds, said Christopher Devine, a University of Dayton political science professor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a double-edged sword, because she also really upset some people,\u201d Devine said of Acton\u2019s time as the health director during the pandemic.<\/p>\n He said that is a tricky attack for Ramaswamy to pursue, though, because DeWine \u2014 still the sitting governor and a popular conservative figure \u2014 endorsed the covid measures Acton recommended, granting her emergency powers to sign the orders, and has since said he takes all responsibility for those actions.<\/p>\n For her part, Acton has done little on the campaign trail to highlight her time as the state\u2019s public health director. Instead, she has focused more on healthcare affordability, highlighting the Trump-led cuts to Medicaid and the scaled-back subsidies for ACA plans that have resulted in thousands of people<\/a> dropping coverage in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cI hear from families across Ohio that healthcare costs are rising and they just can\u2019t keep up,\u201d Acton said in an emailed statement. \u201cThat\u2019s why I will fight to protect and expand access, reduce the price of prescription drugs, forgive medical debt holding Ohioans back, and lower premiums.\u201d<\/p>\n Abdul El-Sayed, Running for U.S. Senate in Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n Abdul El-Sayed at a campaign event in Ferndale, Michigan, on July 25. (Emily Elconin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n El-Sayed \u2014 who ran the health departments in the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan \u2014 is one of two leading Democratic candidates for Senate. The primary is Aug. 4.<\/p>\n El-Sayed, a progressive, is facing off against Haley Stevens, a four-term congresswoman. They are vying to run against Republican nominee Mike Rogers, a former congressman, for the Senate seat held by retiring Democrat Gary Peters.<\/p>\n From 2015 to 2017, El-Sayed ran the Detroit Health Department, which had been gutted<\/a> and privatized as part of the city\u2019s 2013 bankruptcy. In his role, he led efforts to test Detroit schools for lead in the wake of the Flint water crisis and provide free eyeglasses to children in public schools.<\/p>\n From 2022 until 2025, he ran the health department in Wayne County, the state\u2019s most populous county, which includes Detroit. In that job, he initiated a program to retire medical debt for thousands of residents and make naloxone available in public areas to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.<\/p>\n In an interview with KFF Health News, El-Sayed said his public health experience helped him become an effective communicator and challenge corporations and the role they play in healthcare.<\/p>\n \u201cPolitics have become overrun by big money and corporations, and my training and background in public health has taught me to think about that and push back against it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n El-Sayed, who did not practice medicine after completing his residency and is not licensed to do so, has faced criticism from some in his party for calling himself a doctor. \u00a0<\/p>\n El-Sayed, who has endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), supports \u201cMedicare for All,\u201d a policy favored by many progressives that would make more people eligible for the federal health program for people who are 65 and older or disabled.<\/p>\n David Dulio, a professor of political science at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, said that the broader economy, Trump\u2019s tariffs, and trade are eclipsing healthcare this year as top concerns for voters in the state. But he added that \u201cprogressive stances such as Medicare for All are attractive in the Democratic primary electorate.\u201d<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on KFF Health News<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A handful of former public health officials are campaigning for top statewide offices across the country, testing whether their experience with covid and other hot-button health issues will appeal to voters in November. 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