March 14, 2025
The Democratic science-advocacy group 314 Action is launching a $30 million effort targeting 28 House Republicans — an escalation in the war in Washington over science.
“Normally, Pi Day is a celebration of our STEM elected officials and the work they’re doing to promote science in our legislation. But this year, due to the unrelenting attacks on science, we’re going on the offensive,” the group’s president, Shaughnessy Naughton, said.
The size of the planned campaign is a significant increase from the roughly $20 million the group spent targeting House Republicans in 2024. 314 Action works to elect Democrats with science and medical backgrounds up and down the ballot.
The campaign comes at a fraught time for science-related spending in government. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are targeting grants to universities and the National Institutes of Health that fund new medical research. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, is raising doubts about the efficacy of vaccines.
In response, 314 Action is stepping up its efforts to urge scientists to run for Congress. Earlier this month, the group launched a recruitment effort aimed at electing 100 new doctors to office by the year 2030.
In the new campaign, 314 Action is zeroing in on many of the usual suspects: Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), the three Republicans in seats Kamala Harris won in 2024, and swing-seat Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.), Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), Gabe Evans (R-Colo.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.), Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.).
But with the House so evenly divided between the two parties — and with battleground districts rapidly disappearing — the target list stretches into some reach districts for Democrats as well. Included on the list are Republicans in fairly red seats like Rep. Jeff Hurd in Colorado, Ryan Zinke in Montana and Anna Paulina Luna in Florida.