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September 9, 2025
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — Today, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released the second MAHA report, on childhood health. President of 314 Action Shaughnessy Naughton released the following statement in response:
“This MAHA report is just another performative waste of time, paper and oxygen. Instead of proposing any health policy or regulation, RFK Jr. used this report to regurgitate his anti-science conspiracy theories.
“On every page, RFK Jr. contradicts himself. He says poor diet contributes to chronic illness, while slashing food assistance programs and school lunches. He identifies chemical exposure as a cause of chronic illness, while the EPA rolls back environmental regulations. He says we need to advance research, but cut billions to research diseases, like pediatric cancer.
“If RFK Jr. was serious about making Americans healthier, he wouldn’t be shutting down the very institutions and scientists that keep Americans safe. He wouldn’t ignore that guns are the number one cause of death for Americans under 19. And he wouldn’t be sowing chaos and doubt into the effectiveness of vaccines.
“We warned Senator Cassidy that this would happen. His lack of courage and foresight has put millions of Americans in real danger. We can stop this. Since RFK Jr.’s grilling in front of the Senate Finance Committee hearing last week, over 85,000 Americans have signed 314 Action’s petition calling for RFK Jr. to be removed. We’re calling on him to resign—and if not, the Apprentice-in-Chief should fire him.
Since his nomination, 314 Action has been a leader in the fight against RFK Jr., spearheading efforts to protect science and raise awareness of his dangerous agenda. Earlier this year 314 Action launched Guardians of Public Health, a new initiative to elect 100 new doctors to office, up and down the ballot.
Naughton continued, “For too long scientists have been told to stay in their lane, and this is where it has gotten us. A profiteer of pseudo-science is leading the world’s premier public health agency. That’s why we’re working with doctors across the nation to run for office. We’ve launched over 150 campaigns this year—and we’re not close to being done. Putting science in our politics is the antidote to RFK Jr.’s insanity.”
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September 5, 2025
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — As RFK Jr. tries desperately to hold onto his position as HHS Secretary, new polling found the vast majority of Americans don’t trust RFK Jr. with medical advice or vaccines. 3 in 4 respondents reported they don’t trust him, instead turning to their own doctors and CDC guidance for medical information.
“It doesn’t take a doctor to see that RFK Jr. is leading us down a dangerous path and is endangering millions of Americans’ health,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, President of 314 Action. “The research shows that this isn’t a right or left issue. His incompetence and malicious ignorance are destroying our public health agencies as he boots our top scientists and undermines trust in expertise. It’s past time for RFK Jr. to resign or be fired — for our national security and public health.”
The new findings follow a Wall Street Journal poll that found voters trust Democrats significantly more on health care and vaccine policy than Republicans.
Key findings from RFK Jr. polling:
Anthony Salvanto
09/04/25
The Hill: 1 in 4 Americans trust RFK Jr. with medical advice
Elizabeth Crisp
09/03/25
NBC News: Ahead of Kennedy hearing, GOP saw poll showing Trump voters support vaccines
Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
09/04/25
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September 4, 2025
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — 314 Action today launched RFK Watch, a new accountability campaign exposing Robert F. Kennedy as America’s most dangerous Health and Human Service (HHS) Secretary. RFK Watch comes following a press conference today with Protect Our Care, Senators, and all six members of Congressional Democratic Doctors Caucus.
“RFK Jr. is the biggest threat to our health right now. He is systematically dismantling the CDC and destroying everything our public health agencies stand for—science, innovation, and data-driven results,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, President of 314 Action. “History shows us that it never ends well when you refuse to listen to experts. Since his confirmation, he has done nothing to keep us safe or healthy. We’re launching RFK Watch to hold his feet to the fire and make sure every American knows what he’s doing.”
RFK Watch is part of 314 Action’s role as a watchdog and continues our seven-figure accountability campaign against RFK Jr. and the Trump administration. Since his nomination, 314 Action has been a leader in the fight against RFK Jr., spearheading efforts to protect science and raise awareness of his dangerous agenda.
“Secretary Kennedy should resign,” said Hawaii Governor Dr. Josh Green, Co-Chair of 314 Action’s Guardians of Public Health. “By attempting to force his anti-vaccine ideology into national public health policy, and by substituting conspiracy theories for scientific evidence and consensus, Mr. Kennedy has subverted respected public health institutions built on decades of expertise—causing enormous damage to public trust and creating an existential threat to our nation’s health.
“My call for Mr. Kennedy to step aside has nothing to do with partisan politics, and it is not a personal vendetta—it is based solely on my responsibility to protect the people of my state, and to advocate for the public health of the entire country.”
Naughton continued, “We can’t make America healthier by cherry-picking data and firing leading experts, RFK Jr. is infecting the entire public health system with misinformation, undercutting vaccine safety and access, legitimizing conspiracy theories about autism, and promoting junk science. We need scientists and doctors leading the way—not an anti-vaccine conspiracy theory freak.”
314 Action 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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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
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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August 28, 2025
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — After the tragic mass shooting in Minnesota yesterday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went on Fox News this morning to blame anti-depressants for school shootings. 314 Action Executive Director Erik Polyak released the following statement in response:
“RFK Jr. has a sick and twisted view of the world. Instead of promoting mental health and addressing the chronic crisis of gun violence in this country, he’s doubling-down on disinformation. SSRIs and anti-depressants are safe and tested medications. They are prescribed all over the world, but America is the only country with a mass-shooting problem.
“He isn’t trying to keep Americans healthy or safe—he’s just looking for another way to manipulate a tragedy to advance his own political agenda.”
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August 28, 2025
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — Last night, CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez was ousted from her role, just a few weeks following her Senate confirmation. Her lawyers claimed that she did not resign but was forced out by RFK Jr. as he “weaponiz[ed] public health.” In response, 314 Action Executive Director Erik Polyak released the following statement:
“The CDC is on fire — and RFK Jr. is the arsonist. He’s torching the agency in the middle of a five-alarm blaze by firing and forcing out the very experts who’ve spent their lives keeping Americans safe from outbreaks and epidemics. America has never been more vulnerable than it is today.
“Just this week, he restricted access to COVID-19 vaccines, CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez was pushed out and three top CDC scientists resigned, and in a Cabinet meeting, RFK Jr. made claims that he’s ‘discovered’ the cause of autism. This kind of reckless misinformation will kill Americans and give credence to dangerous conspiracies that will take generations to correct.
“All of this chaos could’ve been prevented by Senator Bill Cassidy. He cast the deciding vote and put RFK Jr. in charge of our public health — that’s like letting a fox babysit the henhouse. As a senator and a doctor, Cassidy managed to break his Hippocratic oath and common sense in one vote. The collapse of America’s public health system has two names on it: RFK Jr. and Bill Cassidy.”
August 19, 2025
GET READY FOR the Year of the Doctor.
Political commentators called 1992 the “Year of the Woman” when a record four women were elected to the Senate. The label was revived when 102 women were elected to the House in 2018. Seven years later, there’s a new trend: Doctors and medical professionals are flooding the politics zone, with backup from scores of STEM colleagues in fields like meteorology, engineering, biology, technology, and math.
Already in this 2025–26 cycle, 314 Action—dedicated to helping Democrats with science backgrounds win local, state, and federal elections—says more than 150 doctors have reached out about running for office in nearly three dozen states. The group, cheekily named after pi, expects a historic wave of doctors and scientists to launch campaigns.
The first record-setting year for women followed outrage at the all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee minimizing law professor Anita Hill’s 1991 allegations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The second came in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 Electoral College victory, despite his infamous “grab them by the pussy” Access Hollywood tape, multiple women accusing him of sexual misconduct, and the 2017 start of the #MeToo movement.
Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action, says this year’s wave of STEM candidates arises from the constant assaults on science, data, and public health by the Trump administration and “a complicit Republican Congress,” epitomized by the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In his nearly two hundred days as secretary of health and human services, this anti-vaccine conspiracymonger has unleashed daily onslaughts of disinformation, misinformation, confusion, and policies that endanger American lives and health.
“That has motivated a lot of folks from health backgrounds to see this as a moment where there’s only so much they can do from within their exam rooms. If they want to have a greater impact on improving the outcomes and lives of their patients and community, we need them to step up and get elected,” Naughton, a chemist, said in an interview. “They need to go beyond waiting to be tapped for their expertise and really claim a seat at the table.”
Health issues, including insurance access, COVID, gun violence, and abortion rights, have been undercurrents ever since Naughton founded 314 Action in 2016 after losing a House primary in Pennsylvania. But now public health and eroding access to care are defining issues. Between RFK Jr.’s distortions and Trump’s new law cutting Medicaid access and Affordable Care Act subsidies, it should not be surprising that, according to Naughton, two to three doctors a week are launching campaigns at all levels of government.
One of her group’s current marquee candidates is former Ohio Health Department Director Amy Acton, a physician running virtually even with MAGA poster boy Vivek Ramaswamy in the 2026 Ohio governor’s race. Other 314-backed candidates include at least two with a notable combination of medical credentials and the military service Democrats often rely on to signal they are tough and patriotic. Both are running for U.S. House seats currently held by Republicans.
Kishla Askins, a physician assistant, 30-year military veteran, and former deputy assistant veterans affairs secretary, is in a crowded primary to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon in a Democratic-leaning Omaha district. Darren McAuley, a combat veteran, flight surgeon, Florida Air National Guard member, and former Veterans Health Administration doctor, now at the Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine, is challenging first-term GOP Rep. Laurel Lee for a Tampa-area seat.
Naughton compares her group, which has six million grassroots donors and supporters, to a business incubator. She describes a soup-to-nuts approach tailored to political novices: find pickup opportunities, recruit candidates, help them put together a team, a staff, a finance plan, and a communications strategy, help them fundraise and prepare for debates, and make direct campaign donations as well. Former STEM employees across the federal government—fired, laid off, or so disgusted they quit—are not yet in the mix of recruits, but that could change in the coming months.
In 2024, Naughton said, 314 Action helped elect seven House members, six of them state legislators who had received the group’s help to get that foothold in politics. “It reinforced how important it is to invest at all levels. We built a pipeline of talent,” Naughton said.
She and the 314 team have already endorsed 113 candidates in 2025 state and local races for legislature, mayor, city council, school boards, and other offices. They haven’t yet started to look at downballot 2026 races, most of which have yet to launch, but they are already working with nearly fifty 2026 candidates for House, Senate, and governor.
House endorsements include an Iowa engineer, an Illinois mathematician, and a Minnesota doctor who are challenging Republican incumbents. Statewide, the group has officially endorsed Acton for Ohio governor and South Carolina pediatrician Annie Andrews, one of several Democrats vying to take on Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. Longer term, 314 Action has named Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (a family doctor) and Rep. Lauren Underwood (a nurse) co-chairs of a $25 million initiative that aims to elect 100 health professionals to local, state and federal office by 2030. The group made a splash last week by pledging $1 million to California’s Democratic redistricting project, part of its larger commitment to flipping House seats in the state.
A DIGITAL AD THAT RAN in June in swing House districts—part of what 314 Action calls its ongoing, seven-figure advocacy campaign to hold Trump’s anti-science administration accountable—underscores the group’s broader mission of restoring science as a pillar of American leadership. The ad showcases John F. Kennedy and his presidential successors to illustrate the advances that made the United States a superpower. They all got it, and they all cared—until Trump, who is cutting billions, creating a brain drain, and handing competitive opportunities to China, especially on manufacturing related to climate change.
Public health is at the forefront these days for obvious reasons, yet climate change is an equally crucial issue that also bears on health and safety. Fires, floods, hurricanes, and other disasters are becoming more frequent and intense due to warming fueled by continued reliance on fossil fuels. At the same time, the Trump administration is rolling back clean energy projects and incentives while trying to kill the 2009 “endangerment finding” that authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
So why aren’t climate scientists, like doctors, running for office in droves? It’s a complicated issue, for a start, and tough to explain in catchy campaign-trail prose. It’s also much less urgent and personal to potential constituents than threats to their own health. But there is a route that shows promise—TV weather people who have been fixtures in voter living rooms for years.
In 2023, Rep. Eric Sorenson of Illinois called himself “the first former television meteorologist in Congress in more than four decades.” 314 Action helped him win in 2022 and 2024, and he’s already on its 2026 endorsement list of “House STEM Trailblazers.” Now the group is working with Sean Sublette, a TV meteorologist for over twenty years and former chief meteorologist at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He just launched a campaign to flip a coastal House district in Virginia.
Sublette’s donation page has a simple message: “Help Sean bring science to Congress.” That’s leaning in to truth, and we should all be there for it—all of us in both parties.
August 20, 2025
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — As Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. systematically attack public health, gut Medicaid, and allow Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire, doctors and health care professionals are stepping up to lead. Earlier this year, 314 Action launched Guardians of Public Health—a new $25 million campaign to elect 100 new doctors, nurses, and public health experts to federal, state, and local offices.
With more doctors than ever running for office, The Bulwark has declared 2026 the “Year of the Doctor” — at 314 Action is paving the way.
The Bulwark: Democratic Doctors Are Pouring Into Politics. Thank Trump and RFK Jr.
Key points:
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