Dan Broadbent
The results of last night’s election were pretty much what everybody expected to happen. Democrats won control of the House, Republicans maintained control of the Senate, and the anti-gay religious bigot Kim Davis lost her bid for re-election.
But something we might not have expected to happen happened. Last night, over 20 candidates who have a degree in a STEM field – science, technology, engineering, or math – were elected to Congress.
This is great news for obvious reasons, but it’s also no accident. Last year on my podcast, I spoke with Shaughnessy Naughton, who herself is a scientist, business leader, entrepreneur, and the founder of 314 Action. 314 Action is a PAC whose goal is to help scientists get elected into office. And so far, it seems to be working.
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The fact is, we need more scientists to run for office and lead our country. These are people who value facts over feelings, and use evidence to inform their political policies. It means fewer people like James Inhofe (“Senator Snowball”) and more evidence-based policies.
There are also other resources popping up, like VoteStem.org, that list all the candidates who have a background in STEM on their website and has links to learn more about them.
What this all boils down to is that we need more facts, and less fiction in our political discussions. We don’t need policies that are created out of fear and lies.
Gizmodo compiled a thorough list of candidates STEM candidates who won last night, and the list includes physicists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors, and more!
