ICYMI Mother Jones: “RFK Jr. Has Met His Match in This California Congressional Hopeful”
Magazine Profiles Dr. Richard Pan In CA-06
Sacramento, CA — Mother Jones profiled Dr. Richard Pan's courage and willingness to stand firm in the face of threats, harassment, and violent attacks, when taking on vaccine misinformation, and anti-science extremism. When anti-vaccine extremists screamed at Dr. Pan at hearings "It was like the ocean lapping against a wall without eroding it at all."
“Richard Pan is no stranger to blood. As a pediatrician, he was trained for its inevitability. But unlike your average medical professional—and despite his approachable and buoyant demeanor—he’s had menstrual blood launched at him in protest. He’s been assaulted on the street by a person livestreaming the attack on Facebook. He’s been the subject of racist memes comparing him to Asian despots. He’s encountered demonstrators clad in t-shirts depicting his face smeared with blood. He’s gotten plenty of death threats, too.
Oh, and by the way, he’s running for Congress.”
“‘When we came out of the hearing room, I was shaken by the level of vitriol, and I was almost in tears—but Dr. Pan was so calm,’ says Leah Russin, a parent who, concerned about high rates of vaccine exemptions in California schools, began working with Pan to generate support for the 2015 bill.”
“His prospects look decent: 70 percent of voters in the newly drawn 6th already know Pan pretty well—they’re his former constituents. And as the dust settled, Pan secured several key endorsements, including from the Sacramento Bee. Still, the race is anything but decided, especially now that Pan may get his matchup with a conservative incumbent.”
Read the full article here at MotherJones.com.
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Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician, educator, small business owner and Former State Senator dedicated to keeping California’s families healthy and safe. In the State Senate, he championed landmark child and school safety laws and lowered the uninsured rate among children by two-thirds – taking on RFK Jr. twice after preventable disease outbreaks. A Harvard-trained pediatrician and UC Davis professor, he has cared for underserved children, trained future doctors and co-founded Healthy Kids Healthy Future, providing health coverage to more than 65,000 kids.
Known for flipping his state legislative seat from Red to Blue, Dr. Pan is a proven fighter who brings people together to get results — expanding access to health care, strengthening schools, and improving public safety. A husband, father, and small business owner, he understands the challenges families face and is running for Congress to make government work for people again, so every child and family in California has the chance to succeed.
