Grassroots initiative bringing candidates’ stances on science issues

Salisbury, Md. – With election season underway, a nationwide grassroots initiative is working to put candidates’ stances on certain science policy issues in front of voters.

Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP) is a non-partisan, grassroots coalition of early-career scientists and researchers. As midterm elections get closer, they’re working to make sure voters know their candidates’ positions on science and technology issues.

WMDT spoke with representatives for the team based in Delaware to learn more about their Stance On Science initiative. Youssef El Gharably is a graduate research assistant at the University of Delaware and began the Stance on Science initiative in Delaware. El Gharably and his colleague, Christina Ternovskaia, a graduate student at the University of Delaware, joined graduate students around the country to form SNAP with one goal in mind.

“The exact goal of informing the public about science policy, and also working with policymakers to make them more and more aware every day of how science impacts the policies,” El Gharably said.

He said most people think of scientists in a bubble, separate from everyday issues.

“A lot of people, when they think of science policy, they think it’s something that is either compartmentalized to scientists and policymakers,” El Gharably said. “But in reality, science policy affects almost every day in our daily lives. Everything from opening an electric bill to walking outside and feeling like the weather is a little too hot today.”

El Gharably and Ternovskaia have worked to ask science policy-related questions to all candidates in local, state and federal races. The questions are the same for all candidates, and they publish respondents’ brief, written responses.

“We have decided that the best way to convey the candidate responses is to communicate them in verbatim with the public. And that’s mostly why we limited them to 200 words,” he said.

As of Sept. 9, Stance on Science Delaware received 29 responses total from the Delaware State Congress candidates, two responses from U.S. Senate candidates, a single response from a U.S. House candidate, and no responses from those running for State Treasurer.

Stance on Science initiatives can be found for Maryland and Virginia as well. Voters can learn how the initiative runs, the methodology behind the questions, and how to contact the Stance on Science team with any further questions here.

A broadcast version of this story aired on Sept. 10, 2026.