Public health takes center stage in US midterm campaigns: 'It's already been politicized'

Source: The Guardian

Mon 6 Apr 2026 10.04 EDT
Last modified on Mon 6 Apr 2026 13.11 EDT


As public health has become increasingly politicized in the US, with a particularly chaotic year under the Trump administration, some political candidates are pushing back by making public health a central part of their campaigns – and the grassroots organization Defend Public Health has ideas about how to do it. On Monday, the group launched guiding principles for campaigns to prioritize public health, called the People’s Health Platform, highlighting the importance of ensuring healthcare for all, protecting and expanding sexual, reproductive, and gender-affirming healthcare, preparing for the climate crisis and the next pandemic, and taxing billionaires, among other tenets.

“Public health needs to be a higher priority,” said Richard Pan, a pediatrician who is running to represent California’s sixth congressional district. “I know people get really nervous that this will politicize public health. But it’s not been a priority. And it’s already been politicized.”. Under Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has slashed routine childhood immunizations, cut public health funding to states, spread misinformation during the worst measles outbreak in decades and proposed ending Medicaid and Medicare payments to hospital systems that offer gender-affirming care to pediatric patients.

“The Trump administration has taken an axe to our health and our rights,” said Nina Schwalbe, a public health leader who is running to represent New York’s 12th congressional district. “This is nothing short of malice, neglect and ignorance.”. Schwalbe called the new health platform “non-negotiable for all candidates” because it lays an equitable foundation and serves as a launching pad for “bolder action” to make communities healthier and safer.

“We want to make public health front and center in these midterms,” said Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emerita at University of Arizona and a founding member of Defend Public Health. “We’ve spent a year fighting these changes, but this era is going to end, and when it does, we have an opportunity to reimagine public health. It’s not enough to just fix it to how it was before. We have to do better and make sure that we’re serving everyone.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/06/public-health-in-midterm-election-campaign