August 29, 2025
Slate Includes Three New Guardians of Public Health
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — 314 Action Fund today announced the endorsement of 16 downballot candidates in 12 different states, bringing the total number of endorsed local candidates to 129 this year. This slate includes three Guardians of Public Health—two physicians and a nurse practitioner who are answering the call to serve while 314 Action Fund works to elect 100 new doctors up and down the ballot by 2030. This new slate continues to demonstrate our commitment to supporting a pipeline of new Democratic leaders committed to protecting science and health care.
The slate also includes the endorsement of Nikhil Wagle, an Ophthalmologist and one of our Guardians of Public Health candidates, who is running in one of the most competitive State Senate districts in Iowa.
“To see real and lasting change, we need pro-science leaders at every level of government—especially at the local level. It’s why we’re proud to endorse and support this new group of doctors and scientists running for office in their communities,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, President of 314 Action. “We’re especially proud to see three new Guardians of Public Health step up to combat Republicans’ relentless attacks on science and health care. There are thousands upon thousands of local seats on the ballot in 2025 and we’re doing our part to fill as many of them as possible with Democratic doctors and scientists.”
Endorsed candidates
- CA: Gracie Torres, Riverside City Council
- FL: Monica Shintani, Cape Coral City Council
- IA: Nikhil Wagle, Iowa State Senate District 47
- LA: Bob Murrell, New Orleans City Council
- MA: Jonathan Guzman, Lawrence Schools Committee
- MA: Erin Turowski, Salem City Council
- MD: Ashley Esposito, Baltimore City Board of Education
- MI: Mustapha Hammoud, Dearborn City Council
- MI: David Hamilton, Troy City Council
- MN: Kelly Durick Eder, Duluth School Board
- MN: Prachi Striker, New Brighton ISD 282 School Board
- NC: Harrison Kesling, Morrisville City Council
- OH: Elyse Jenkins, Lakota Local School Board
- OH: Ukeme Awakessien Jeter, Upper Arlington City Council
- PA: Melissa Bosak, Lower Macungie Township Commissioner
- WA: Elizabeth Karkoski-Gardner, Tahoma School Board
314 Action Fund is the only national organization working to recruit, train and elect Democratic scientists across all levels of government—from the Senate down to local school boards. The organization is powered by a grassroots community of over six million people supporting scientists and health care professionals who will use science and facts to address the most urgent issues facing our generation.
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