2018 Experiment: Scientists Run for Office as Democrats

Many scientists have decided to run for political office, particularly in California, ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Some want to push back against President Donald Trump’s policies on climate change; many of them are running for office for the first time.

“It is past time for scientists to step up and get involved … because that is the only way that we are going to change the course,” Shaughnessy Naughton, a cancer researcher-turned-business owner who twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Pennsylvania, told Politico.

According to Politico, scientists are running for office in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York.

The Los Angeles Times reported in March that “Geologist Jess Phoenix, [35] a Democrat, announced she was considering challenging Rep. Steve Knight (R-Lancaster) in the 2018 midterm elections as part of a larger effort to get scientists elected to Congress.”

Last month, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords, adding fuel to left-wing scientists’ political fervor.

In April, thousands of activists and scientists participated in a nationwide “March for Science” against President Trump and in support of climate change legislation.

“You know, the premise of having more scientists in Congress is an interesting one,” Jennilee Brown, a Republican strategist in Los Angeles who studied chemistry as an undergraduate student, told Politico. “Initially, I would say that’s a fantastic idea because scientists are very used to looking at complex situations and … finding solutions to things.” However, she told Politico that she questions whether scientists are adept to run for Congress when it comes to their “power of public persuasion.”

Also in California, non-scientist alumni of the Obama administration are running for political office to secure the former president’s legacy, which Trump is steadily unwinding.

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.