Dr. Kermit Jones is a doctor and a veteran running for Congress in California’s 3rd Congressional District. The son of a healthcare worker himself, he understands the critical role that healthcare workers play in country.

While completing medical and law school the tragedy of 9/11 struck and he joined the US Navy and served as a flight surgeon saving lives on the frontline. After returning from Iraq, he studied public policy at Columbia University. He served as a White House Fellow in the Obama Administration and worked in the office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services on healthcare policy.

He is running for Congress because too many people are struggling with access and the affordability of healthcare, high prescription costs, and working to make sound policy based on science, not politics.

He received his MD and JD from Duke University and his MPA from Columbia University.

Dr. Annie Andrews is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston and has been a pediatrician at MUSC since 2009. She cares for children and adolescents from all over the Lowcountry at the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. There she also developed and directed the Advocacy Curriculum for the Department of Pediatrics.

She is a gun violence prevention researcher and community advocate working to reduce the frequency of pediatric firearm injuries with a focus on secure storage counseling and gun safety education in the community. She is an active volunteer with Moms Demand Action, the largest grassroots gun violence prevention organization in the country. She is a frequent invited speaker at Children’s Hospitals and Medical Schools across the country on topics related to child health advocacy and gun violence prevention. She is a member of the South Carolina chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Charleston County Medical Society. She serves on the Charleston County Medical Society School Health Committee which advises the Charleston County School District on matters related to child health. She is an appointed member of the City of Charleston Mayor’s Health and Wellness Committee and a member of the Fall Lowcountry cohort of the Furman University Riley Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative.

She received her MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and went on to complete her residency training in Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

She is married to Dr. Charlie Andrews, a Neurological Critical Care doctor at the Medical University of South Carolina. They have three incredible kids – Gracie, Henry, and Evelyn. They reside in Mount Pleasant.

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Dr. Asif Mahmood is a pulmonologist and doctor of internal medicine. He and his family have lived in Southern California since 1999. Asif has based his life’s work on a single principle taught to him by his parents: that helping others is our highest calling.

He grew up thousands of miles and a world away, in a small crowded home in a remote village in rural Pakistan. After receiving his medical degree, Asif moved to America, and later California, to practice medicine.

Asif has treated thousands of patients in Southern California over the last twenty years: patients in the ER, critical care, inpatients, and as they leave the hospital. Asif has made it a rule in his practice — if a patient doesn’t have insurance, his office won’t ask for payment.

In addition to his work as a physician, Asif has been a leader in non-profit and philanthropic organizations across Southern California. He has played leading roles in philanthropic efforts for non-profit organizations like UNICEF and volunteers at a free clinic. He serves on the California Medical Board and on the board of the Valley Rescue Mission, the largest homeless shelter in Southern California. He is also the chair of the Organization for Social Media Safety that fights cyber-bullying and cyber-exploitation of children.

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Yadira’s parents came to Colorado from a small town in Mexico, looking for a better life. They didn’t have much education or much money, but they knew that hard work and caring for others are the values that build strong communities and family. They raised their four children with those values — on a construction worker’s pay in the Adams County home they still live in — doing whatever it took to put them on a path to success. All four were able to go to college and graduate in the span of a single generation, an incredible testament to the American Dream.

Yadira had big dreams for herself as well, knowing from an early age she wanted to help people as a doctor. She attended public schools in Adams County, received a degree from Regis University, and continued on to medical school at the University of Colorado.

Even before she finished her medical training, advocacy for others became an important part of Yadira’s life. She helped organize her fellow medical residents for better working conditions, becoming a union representative with SEIU. And she was named a Champion of Change by President Obama for her work with the ​​Union of Concerned Scientists enlisting doctors across the country in the fight against climate change.

Yadira chose to be a pediatrician in Adams County, but with 65% of her patients’ families on Medicaid, she quickly understood that truly helping children required a lot more than what she was able to do as a doctor. Too many families she saw were falling through the cracks, struggling with job opportunities, health care costs, child care, and paying rent.

In Congress, Yadira will be driven by the same values her parents taught her and her siblings — to work hard and always finish what you’ve started, and to jump in to help without being asked. She will fight to make loud the voices of Coloradans long ignored in Washington, particularly those of Brown, Black and Indigenous communities.

Yadira still lives in Adams County, not far from her parents, and her life is still filled with large family gatherings of relatives near and far, lots of food cooked with love and togetherness, support, and a little teasing from her brothers, and endless conversations with her sister.

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Congresswoman Lauren Underwood represents Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, a suburban, exurban, and rural district in northern Illinois. She flipped this seat from red to blue in a historic fashion in 2018, defeating a four-term Republican incumbent, and in 2020 became the first Democrat to ever be re-elected in IL-14.

In 2018, Congresswoman Underwood was the first person of color, first woman, and first millennial elected to represent her district. When she was sworn into office in 2019, she became the youngest Black woman to ever serve in Congress.

Congresswoman Underwood has proven herself to be a hard worker and an effective leader for her community. She currently serves on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the House Committee on Appropriations. As only a sophomore member of Congress, Lauren has had eight pieces of legislation enacted into law by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

A registered nurse and public health expert, Congresswoman Underwood brings a critical perspective to Congress. She has made access to high-quality, affordable health care one of her signature issues. Her bill, the Healthcare Affordability Act, was included in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

During her tenure in Congress, Congresswoman Underwood co-founded the Black Maternal Health Caucus to combat the historic health disparities and unacceptably high death rates among Black mothers. Alongside colleagues in the House and Senate, she introduced a package of 12 bills to save moms’ lives: the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021. She is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Prior to her first election, she worked to implement the Affordable Care Act as a career civil servant at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She was later appointed by President Obama to serve as a Senior Advisor at HHS, where she helped communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to public health emergencies, bioterror threats, and other disasters.

Congresswoman Underwood received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and two master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University.

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Dr. Brian Williams was raised in a family with a long history of military service, where he learned the values of patriotism, service, and justice. Dr. Williams is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy with honors and served our country as an aeronautical engineer directing classified research and development programs.

Later, Dr. Williams became a Harvard-trained trauma surgeon who chose to serve the underserved in places like Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago. In July 2016, Dr. Williams was the trauma surgeon who led the team that treated several Dallas police officers ambushed by a sniper at a rally downtown. In Dallas, Dr. Williams served as Chair of the Dallas Citizens Police Review Board, helping to bridge the divide between police officers and our community.

In Washington, D.C., he worked as a gun safety advocate and policy advisor for Sen. Chris Murphy and then-Speaker Pelosi. He helped pass the single most significant piece of gun legislation in our country’s history after the tragedy in Uvalde. Brian lives in East Dallas with his wife of 17 years, their 12-year-old daughter, and their two dogs.