Nation’s Premier Pro-Science Political Organization Aims to Spend $50 Million in Lead-up to 2021 and 2022 Elections

April 8, 2021

PHILADELPHIA — Today, 314 Action Fund announced its endorsement of nine STEM leaders for Virginia General Assembly as they seek to protect the state legislature’s pro-science majority. Following the organization’s success in helping elect over 100 scientists at the state and local levels in 2020, 314 Action Fund is proud to support the campaigns of these exceptional science candidates.

“After electing a physician as governor in 2018 and a pro-science majority in their state legislature in 2019, Virginians rebuked the Grand Old Party of Trump this past November when science was on the ballot,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, President of 314 Action. “The GOP’s war on science continues, but these scientists aren’t backing down—they’re running for office to make sure facts and evidence stay at the center of policymaking in Virginia. We’re eager to join them in this fight.”

The full slate of Virginia General Assembly endorsements is as follows:

Since its founding, 314 Action Fund has remained committed to building a more progressive Virginia by electing scientists at every level of government. 

In 2017, 314 Action Fund helped elect physician Ralph Northam to his first term as governor of Virginia, as well as first-time candidates Cheryl Turpin and Hala Ayala, the latter of whom 314 Action Fund endorsed in March for lieutenant governor of Virginia.

In the 2020 campaign cycle, 314 Action Fund’s independent expenditure program invested nearly $3 million in support of Dr. Cameron Webb, then-candidate for Virginia’s fifth congressional district. 314 Action Fund raised nearly $200,000 in grassroots donations for Dr. Webb’s campaign—including 11,855 donations of $150 or less.

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314 Action Fund is powered by a grassroots community of nearly six million people working to elect scientists, doctors, and STEM professionals who will use science and facts to address our most pressing issues like climate change and health care. In 2018 and 2020, we played a pivotal role in flipping the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, electing eleven Democratic scientists to federal office, as well as over 100 to key legislative districts. In 2021 and 2022, 314 Action Fund will continue working to elect science leaders and defeat climate deniers in Congress and legislatures across the country.