What do Democratic candidates believe about the issues?

by Dr. Annie Andrews

July 22, 2026

One of the challenges Democratic candidates have faced over the past several years is that Republicans constantly attempt to characterize what they want voters to think we believe, and often, they are believed even though untrue.  That’s why all Democrats need to be refining and sharpening our own brand in the minds of voters, rather than allow others to define us.

Dr. Annie Andrews, MD, is the Democratic candidate for US Senate in South Carolina.  The late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had been running for re-election, was attempting to define her to voters and questioning her political beliefs. Her response is one that deserves to be heard loud and clear across the country and represents the beliefs of the vast majority of Democratic candidates for all positions.  (The full video is on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg9vZGDT_-I and has been lightly edited here.)

• We believe that health care is a human right.

• We need to stop the impending Medicaid budget cuts.

• We need to protect Medicare and Social Security.

• We need to fully fund the CDC and the NIH, and we need to impeach and remove RFK Jr.

• We need to address America's cost of living emergency.

• We need to raise the federal minimum wage.

• We need to pass an expanded permanent child tax credit.

• We need to stop the on-again, off-again unconstitutional tariffs.

• We need to root out the corruption that is degrading American democracy.

• We need to end partisan gerrymandering.

• We need to pass term limits.

• We need to ban members of Congress from trading stock and from becoming lobbyists.

• We need to get dark money out of politics once and for all by ending Citizens United.

• We need to support active-duty service members, military families, and veterans, instead of starting endless, unnecessary billion-dollar-a-day wars.

• We need to restore a woman's right to make health care decisions about her own body.

• We need to fully fund our public education system.

• We need to take bold action to address climate change.

• We believe that as long as gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children, we need to wake up every day and fight like hell to pass the commonsense gun safety laws that the vast majority of Americans support.

And we can do all of that together! 

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