MADISON, Wis. — On Friday, reporting from ABC News highlighted Democratic nominee for Wisconsin’s First Congressional District Mitchell Berman’s plan to defeat Bryan Steil and bring his nursing experience in the ER and VA hospitals to Congress. While Steil voted to strip healthcare from his constituents and supported cuts to the VA, Mitchell Berman will advocate for his patients’ access to affordable healthcare.

ABC News: Democratic Doctors, Nurses Aim to Flip Congress Seats with a Focus on Healthcare
By: Gaby Vinick & Oren Oppenheim | 9/18/26

  • As an emergency room nurse in Wisconsin, Mitchell Berman says he sees patients who can’t afford their medications or utilities.
  • “I can help mend their broken arm or give them medication to take away their pain, but what I struggle with is knowing full well that I can’t help them with the trauma that sets in two weeks later when they get their bill in the mail,” Berman said.
  • Now he’s trying to change that — by running for office, mounting a bid to unseat GOP incumbent Rep. Bryan Steil in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.
  • Berman, whose race was recently added to Democrats’ targeted districts, is among a crop of Democratic medical professionals running for Congress who are campaigning to reduce healthcare costs. They’re also now campaigning in the wake of public health incidents such as recent measles outbreaks.
  • Republicans have already elected many medical doctors and professionals to Congress, with the GOP Doctors’ Caucus in the U.S. House 14 members strong. But groups such as 314 Action, a Democratic-aligned group supporting Berman and other medical professionals, believe more Democratic medical professionals will be entering Congress after the midterms.
  • “We think 2026 is going to be the year of the doctor,” 314 Action Executive Director Erik Polyak told ABC News.
  • Democrats agree on making healthcare more affordable, although some are divided on how to get there: some progressives advocate for Medicare for All while others support expanding healthcare options in other ways.
  • But many have taken swings at Republicans for voting in favor of the 2025 budget reconciliation bill, otherwise known as President Donald Trump’s signature tax legislation in his “One Big Beautiful Bill.” It includes around $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years, in part through new work and eligibility requirements. Republicans said their goal is reducing “waste, fraud and abuse” in these programs.”
  • “Medicaid afforded my mom an additional eight years of life,” Berman told ABC News as he called out Steil’s vote for the bill. “It gave her the opportunity to dance with me at my wedding. It gave her the ability to hold my first daughter and her first grandchild.”
  • Steil wrote in a statement to ABC News, “With my support beginning July 2025, Wisconsin began receiving an additional $1 billion annually in record federal Medicaid funding.”