Democratic governors offered a mix of support and caution, reflecting the volatile politics of Washington mandates and the pandemic in many closely divided states. In Virginia, home to more than 140,000 federal workers, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is running for a new term, said the mandates would help blunt the virus and lift an economy strained by the Delta variant. But in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office released a statement saying she was reviewing the plan.
The issue of masks has not only divided states from one another, but has drawn stark lines within large Republican-controlled states where many cities and suburbs are run by local Democratic leaders and rural areas wield disproportionate power in state capitols.
Van R. Johnson II, the mayor of Savannah, Ga., applauded the vaccine mandates as a necessary move to tackle the pandemic in a Republican-run state that has seen a sharp rise in new cases since July.
“If we’re going to beat Covid we got to do it with big definitive decisive actions, and our president has definitely decided to do that,” said Mr. Johnson, a Democrat.
The federal vaccine mandates also provided Republican politicians with an easy opportunity to rally their own political base by slamming the Democratic administration.
For Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, the issue of mandates has been a fraught one since the beginning of the pandemic. Initially hesitant to mandate masks, he ordered Texans to wear them last summer.
That stance set off paroxysms of anger among some Republicans, contributed to the ouster of the leadership in the state party, and is among the reasons he will face at least two primary challengers next year. Mr. Abbott has since issued an order banning all vaccine or mask mandates.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/us/republicans-biden-covid.html
Comments