Episode 125: Nursing is Still Political

Two years after introducing listeners to Healing Politics, with Episode 95: Nursing is Political, Kimberly Gordon, DNP, CRNA, returns along with co-founder Lisa Summers, BSN, MSN, DrPH, with sobering research and renewed urgency about nurses' political participation.

When more nurses are civically engaged, communities are healthier. Why? Because legislative decisions shape everything from healthcare access to public health funding, and nurses’ holistic, community-based perspective gives them a unique view into both the problems people face and the solutions needed to address them. Research shows that nurse legislators consistently outperform their peers in crafting evidence-based healthcare policy, achieving bipartisan collaboration, and delivering measurable health outcomes for their constituents (ScienceDirect).

Yet without more nurses in elected office, these critical insights rarely reach the legislative process.

In this episode, Gordon and Summers share how Healing Politics has evolved since launching the first campaign school designed specifically for nurses and midwives. Beyond preparing candidates to run for office, their mission has expanded to strengthen civic engagement through partnerships with VoteER, Fair Vote, and Power to the Polls. Together, this bipartisan duo reflects on the vital distinction between politics and policy, and unveil their new state-based liaison strategy designed to scale their impact and increase nurse representation at every level of government.

Because when nurses step into the halls of power, they don’t just change policy, they change lives.