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‘Revenge of the nerds’: US midterms deliver a win for science – and a rebuke of Maha
Democrats made gains in the US midterms, with doctors and scientists winning races across the ballot as voters focused on healthcare costs and affordability. A group that backed Democratic health professionals called the result a “Stem swing”, interpreting it as a rebuke of Trumpism and the Make America Healthy Again movement.
Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and South Carolina’s Annie Andrews were among the history-making winners; no Democratic doctor had held a Senate seat since 1969. All incumbent Democratic doctors won, while Republican doctors including Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Roger Marshall lost, and several other races remained too close to call. Democrats ran more than 158,000 healthcare-related adverts, compared with 61,000 for Republicans, amid cuts and disruption affecting US health and science institutions.
In short
- Democrats’ doctor and scientist candidates made midterm gains.
- Healthcare affordability was a central campaign issue.
- Democratic campaigns ran over 158,000 healthcare adverts.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The results can reasonably be seen as a vote of confidence in scientific expertise and accessible healthcare: doctors and scientists made gains as voters weighed healthcare costs, while Democratic candidates highlighted disruption to health institutions. Their supporters may view the wins as a rejection of political attacks on public health and of MAHA policies they believe risk weakening evidence-based care.
The case against
The results do not by themselves establish a nationwide rebuke of MAHA or Trumpism: voters’ concerns about affordability may have mattered more, and the article reports that the group’s “Stem swing” interpretation came from an organisation backing Democratic health professionals. Candidates’ professions and campaign advertising are suggestive, but they cannot show which issue drove each vote; some races were also still undecided.
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