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Credit to Author: Kaleigh Rogers| Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 21:39:09 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s now a lot more nerds in elected office. Seventeen candidates with STEM-backgrounds ran their respective races Tuesday, from Virginia governor-elect Ralph Northam\u2014a doctor\u2014to Tiffany Hodgson, a neuroscientist who won a seat on the Wissahickon School Board in eastern Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n Many candidates decided to run only after <\/a>President Donald Trump ushered in one of the most anti-science administrations in history. And a number of the campaigns sprung out of meetings with 314 Action, a political advocacy group that is helping scientists run for office<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cVoters are ready for candidates who are going to use their STEM training to base policy on evidence rather than intuition,\u201d Shaughnessy Naughton, the founder of 314 Action, said in a press release. \u201cScience will not be silenced.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the winners are multiple school board members, but also two members of the Virginia State House of Delegates: Cheryl Turpin, an environmental science teacher, and Hala Ayala, a cybersecurity expert. Incumbent STEM candidates fared well, too, such as Raleigh, North Carolina Mayor Nancy McFarlane, a pharmacist, was re-elected. <\/p>\n These candidates will hopefully be better equipped to understand some of the biggest hurdles the US is currently facing\u2014from election hacking to the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s elections were viewed with particular interest, and seen as a kind of bellwether on how voters are feeling one year into a Trump presidency. Democrats fared well at all levels of government, many of whom are STEM-background candidates. Scientists have long remained apolitical, but the Trump administration has emboldened many STEM experts to speak out, including organizing marches<\/a> in defense of science and taking public stances <\/a>on political decisions. <\/p>\n Now, all eyes are trained on 2018, where dozens of STEM-background candidates are running in the midterms. Naughton said November\u2019s results bode well for next year\u2019s challenges. <\/p>\n \u201cIf this year is any indication, 2018 is going to be a big year for candidates with STEM backgrounds,\u201d Naughton said.<\/p>\n Get six of our favorite Motherboard stories every day <\/i><\/b> by signing up for our newsletter<\/i><\/b><\/a> . <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n