Molly Sheehan for PA-7

I am not associated with Sheehan’s campaign, I’m just a scientist and DKos lurker living near PA-7.

Rep. Pat Meehan’s PA-7 seat has already drawn at least four Democratic challengers, Molly Sheehan, Drew McGinty, Elizabeth Moro and Dan Muroff. I’m sure there will be more, but I want to focus on Molly Sheehan as she’s the most exciting to me. As someone that was recently a parent and postdoc, I believe you’d have to be incredibly courageous to strike off into the wilds of politics while trying to research and parent.

But we need young scientists like Molly stepping up to speak out about what scientists do and why its so important we listen to them. If you listen to the She’s Running podcast or this piece from Time that she was shown in, you can hear that she’s someone that can speak clearly and openly. If you’ve ever heard research talks, you might be aware that such qualities are not common enough among scientists.

If you take a look at her page on Facebook or her Twitter feed, you can see that she’s an unabashed progressive. From Twitter,

x #CBO made this official today. 23 million babies of somebody left to chose between life and bankruptcy. https://t.co/y40AOdKNFe — Molly Sheehan (@pennsymolly) May 25, 2017

and from Facebook comments,

Will you support some form of universal coverage? Molly Sheehan > Yes! I think the way we implement bringing more people into the fold is important and requires understanding our healthcare system to 1) make sure we don't shock the system and feel backlash setting us back and 2) make sure people have access to providers in addition to coverage. I plan on going to the Single Payer Medicare Workshop on June 7th, too, if you'd like to join.

For mother’s day she posted,

When I hear about a mother and her five year old being sent back to Honduras to a brutal regime, laws that deprive mothers of live-saving care, or the hazardous oil pipelines being built through the backyards of elementary schools in our district, I know it is time to work and speak up. We must also fight for our mothers, the amazing women who gave us life and fought for our progress. Our mother’s deserve to retire with dignity and receive the care they deserve. They should not be worrying about cuts to Social Security and Medicare or being priced out of health insurance. This Mother’s Day, I’m being a mom. I’m doing the work that’s generally unglamorous because it’s what our children and families need. I’m going to wipe the yogurt off my pants and work to take on Trump and stop his rubber stamp, Representative Meehan, so our daughters and mothers can have the future deserve.

I’m excited to see Molly Sheehan and other scientists running for office at all levels. Thanks especially to 314 Action for helping scientists prepare for campaigning. For all the other diarists here on Kos, I’d love hearing about more candidates like this.

And if you can, please support Molly Sheehan’s campaign.