Greetings all. Excited to share with you today a new interview we just completed with Dr. Richard Pan, a very impressive candidate running in the newly drawn CA-06 (be sure to read his bio, below!) CA-06 is one of the new districts the voters of California created when the big redistricting ballot initiative passed last November. Now it is critical we finish the job that we started in the summer of 2025 and help Dr. Pan win this seat for Democrats this November.
While this is a +5 Dem district (via The Cook Report) like many Democrats emerging from late, competitive primaries Dr. Pan enters the general election with far less money than the experienced MAGA Member of Congress Rep. Kevin Kiley who he is running against. We set up our Second Wave Fund to help candidates like Dr. Pan replenish after late primaries so please consider chipping into our Second Wave Fund today or contributing to Dr. Pan directly here. In a district as Democratic as this one is, with an experienced and capable candidate like Dr. Pan, if we raise the millions we need to communicate we will flip this seat and get that much closer to taking back the House.
Here’s the DCCC’s short pitch graph for Dr. Pan:
Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician, educator, and former State Legislator who has spent his career fighting for the health and safety of California families. He’s taken on some of the state’s toughest challenges — expanding access to affordable health care, lowering prescription drug costs, protecting children during public health crises, and supporting first responders and public safety. A proven fighter, Dr. Pan stood up to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and anti-vaccine extremists’ attacks to protect children and public health, and he will take on those same powerful interests in Washington. In a district made bluer by Proposition 50, Dr. Pan is uniquely positioned to take the case to “MAGA champion” Kevin Kiley, as he tries to hide his extreme record from voters. While Kiley chases political opportunism, Dr. Pan is focused on delivering results for Sacramento families.
Here’s some of what Dr. Pan, a former CA State Senator, told us in the interview about why he chose to enter politics:
As a pediatrician, I saw that too many children didn't have health care coverage. Their families couldn't afford it. In fact, started a not-for-profit. We helped 65,000 children get health care coverage. And then the Great Recession hit. That's when I decided that, well, maybe I should get into politics because we need people who make decisions in our government to improve people's lives. And so during the Great Recession, I ran in a safe Republican seat for the state legislature. Most people thought I had no chance of winning. This was 2010, not a great year for Democrats. And I flipped that seat. I took a seat with more Republicans than Democrats and won that seat. In the legislature, I went to work for the people. We worked to actually get four million more Californians health care coverage — in fact, reduced the uninsured rate by two-thirds. When people were struggling with the cost of medications, [we] worked to actually pass a law so that the state could contract to make their own medication, including insulin. So we now have $11 insulin in the state of California.
And when we had a measles outbreak that began in Disneyland back in 2015, I worked to strengthen our vaccination law so that we could be sure our kids are safe at school. We don’t need kids getting sick at school because of preventable disease. In fact, RFK Jr. came to oppose my bill. He even incited his followers to assault me on the street, and they threw blood at me in the Senate chamber. I did not back down. We got those laws passed so that we can keep kids safe at school.
When I finished my term in the state legislature, I went back to teaching at UC Davis, doing community work to, again, improve people’s lives. And then basically what happened was that Donald Trump got elected, and he made RFK Jr. his Secretary of Health and Human Services. And people like my opponent, Kevin Kiley, voted to take health care away from millions of Californians. They upended the vaccination schedule. In fact, we have massive outbreaks of measles and other diseases right now. And that’s when I said to myself, well, you know what — time to get back into the game. So that’s why I’m running for Congress, running against Kevin Kiley in a seat that, while redistricted, is a top pickup opportunity for Democrats.
I am excited to bring someone with a history of fighting RFK Jr and standing up for science to Congress next year!
Finally, as Dr. Pan says we drew new lines in California last year, and helped lift Democrats up all across the country. Now we need to finish the job:
You know, we put all this effort into passing Prop 50. We need to be sure we follow through so we can flip the House. And that's why I'm running. We want to be sure we flip the House, and we've got to take all those seats that we redistricted to be sure that we can have a Congress that will hold this administration accountable.
Pleased to be able to bring another great candidate to you today, Dr. Richard Pan. Please hit like so more will meet him, share our conversation with others, support him and his fellow Second Wavers, and keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and an elections like this one in CA-06 all across the country to win, together! - Simon
Biography - Dr. Richard Pan, Our Nominee in CA-06
Dr. Richard Pan is a proud father, small business owner, educator, and public health advocate, who dedicated his life to building healthy communities, no matter how difficult the challenge.
The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Dr. Pan realized the American Dream through hard work and a good public school education. After earning his medical degree and a masters degree in public health, he went on to lead UC Davis’ Pediatric Residency Program.
Dr. Pan founded Communities and Physicians Together, a grassroots program partnering pediatricians with local neighborhoods. He co-founded ‘Healthy Kids Healthy Future,’ ensuring health, dental, and vision coverage for over 65,000 children in the Sacramento region. In partnership with the Sacramento City Unified School District, he collaborated with school nurses and teachers to assist children with special needs, ensuring they could learn in school.
But in 2010, the Great Recession and budget cuts loomed over the programs he built with the community. So Dr. Pan organized a coalition of neighbors, small businesses, unions, and health professionals, and ran for State Assembly where, on a nationally bad night for Democrats, he flipped a seat from Red to Blue.
As a legislator, he worked to restore confidence in California at a time when critics deemed the state “ungovernable” by stabilizing the budget and building reserves to prevent further budget cuts that endangered the health and safety of Sacramento families.
One of his first actions in the Legislature was to keep the City of Sacramento’s fire stations open after the city’s budget deficit threatened to shutter public safety services. Collaborating with firefighters, Dr. Pan helped secure $90 million in new federal funding for California’s emergency responders including millions for Sacramento area neighborhoods. He also authored state laws to ensure health insurance companies could not discriminate against patients with pre-existing conditions and supported reproductive health clinics.
In 2014, Dr. Pan defied the odds again, by defeating career politicians in the most expensive State Senate election in recent history. Then Dr. Pan got to work focused on the fundamentals: health, safety, and making our communities stronger.
Pan authored laws to ban smoking at youth sports and reduce gun violence, expand newborn screening and pregnancy services, fund youth mental health services, control the cost of prescription drugs and health care, and increase child support payments for families.
TIME magazine named Dr. Pan a “hero” for his groundbreaking legislation to increase school vaccination rates to halt the Disneyland measles outbreak in 2015 in the face of vitriolic attacks by RFK Jr. and anti-vaccine extremists. Despite being stalked at his home and business, physically assaulted, and relentless harassment, these personal attacks did not deter Dr. Pan from his commitment to protecting children.
Labor unions, small business groups, and community organizations have all acknowledged Dr. Pan for his leadership, particularly for his role in spearheading numerous significant achievements within the Legislature.
In Congress, Dr. Pan will fight to protect health care; to make food, housing, education and health care more affordable, not less; and to ensure all Americans have equal justice and are treated fairly by our government. He will hold RFK Jr. and President Trump accountable for endangering Americans with disinformation and by dismantling public health agencies including the CDC, FDA and NIH that save American lives. He will demand that science and facts guide federal policies on health care, public health and the environment. Dr. Pan will strive to make the federal government work for the American people.
