F*ck Yeah, Nurses!

Hey, how about that election the other night! While it was not perfect (Florida, what happened? And the Texas senate race? And please do not get me started on what’s still going on in Georgia…), there were some really incredible things that *did* happen. One hundred plus women going to the House is a pretty big deal. New Mexico sending a full delegation of people of color to the House to represent the state is a pretty big deal. And other firsts: two Muslim women to the House; two Native American women to the House; many LGBTQ+ candidates elected (a rainbow wave!), including an openly gay man elected governor of Colorado.

And a nurse from Naperville, IL named Lauren Underwood became the 1st black woman from her district to get elected. I’d ask you to watch this clip from last night’s Rachel Maddow show about her surprise upset in a very Republican, very white district, because, look, how she went about making it happen was peak nursing (she basically did it all at the “bedside”–she went directly to the people, all of them, no matter who or where they were, even the most underserved by politicians). I found her story to be both inspiring and empowering as a nurse and a policy nerd.

And if that doesn’t light your fire today, here’s a little bonus for you: with the House flipping control, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), a nurse, is now poised to chair the House Science Committee. From The Hill:

Johnson, if elected chair, will be the first woman with a degree in a STEM field to hold the position since 1990. She was the first registered nurse elected to Congress when she won her first term in 1993, and she’s served as ranking member on House Science, Space and Technology Committee since 2011…Johnson released a statement Tuesday night promising to restore ‘the credibility of the Science Committee as a place where science is respected and recognized as a crucial input to good policymaking”.

F*ck yeah, nurses!

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