In his run for governor of Maine, Nirav Shah holds standard Democratic positions. He aims, his campaign says, “to fix housing, fund health care, feed kids, and fuel growth, while fighting back against the overreaches of the Trump administration.” But Shah’s background is less conventional: In addition to being a lawyer, he’s an epidemiologist who directed Maine’s CDC during the coronavirus pandemic and was the principal deputy director of the federal CDC until earlier this year. Shah decided to resign from the CDC in part because of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as the secretary of health and human services. If he wins in 2026—a big if this early in the race—Shah suspects that he might be one of the first, if not the first, top CDC officials to secure such a prominent elected office.

Many science and health professionals have shied away from politics in the past. But as the Trump administration has rescinded its support for scientific research, restricted vaccine access, dismissed expert advisers, attacked doctors and scientists, and worked to curtail health-insurance coverage, researchers and health-care workers have had a surge of interest in running for office. Shaughnessy Naughton, the president of 314 Action, a political-action committee focused on electing Democrats with science backgrounds, told me that since January her team has seen almost 700 applic