WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite the fact that unvaccinated Americans make up the overwhelming majority of current coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths, many Ohio Republican politicians are upset with the vaccine mandate and other rules President Joe Biden announced Thursday.
What You Need To Know
- Ohio Republican politicians are condemning President Biden’s newest coronavirus mandates
- Some questioned the constitutionality, while others called it “authoritarian”
- New CDC data proves the vaccines help prevent hospitalization and death from COVID-19
- Ohio Democrats are supportive of Biden’s actions
The Biden administration will soon require all federal workers, federal contractors and many health care workers get vaccinated. In addition, the government will mandate that employers with 100 or more employees ensure workers are vaccinated or tested at least weekly.
Reaction poured in from the major Republican candidates for Ohio’s soon-to-be-open U.S. Senate seat.
In a video posted to his Twitter account Thursday night, candidate Josh Mandel, a former Ohio State Treasurer, lied that Biden was not the president, invoked Nazi Germany, and asked the conservative Supreme Court justices nominated by former President Donald Trump to stop the new mandates from going into effect.
“I am hoping and praying that the Supreme Court justices that [Trump] appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court will do the right thing and stand up for the constitution, stand up for our freedom, stand up for our liberty,” Mandel said, while standing in a cornfield in western Ohio. “And if they don’t, I call on my fellow Americans: Do not comply. Do not comply with the tyranny. And when the gestapo show up at your front door, you know what to do.”
Mandel has not disclosed whether he is vaccinated.
Bernie Moreno, a first-time candidate and entrepreneur from Cleveland, is vaccinated and believes the science behind them, but still feels Biden crossed a line.
“There are people in my race, and you know who they are, and they get a lot of attention, that want it to be about ‘carelessness, let’s spread this virus, it’s great — COVID for everybody!’ Obviously, that’s insanely stupid,” Moreno told Spectrum News on Friday. “What I’m talking about is just respect the idea that people can make personal life decisions for themselves and their family dramatically better than government can. That’s just a core underlying philosophy that is very important for the other side to understand.”
Author and venture capitalist JD Vance, another Senate hopeful, called for “mass civil disobedience” in response to the mandate and encouraged Americans to “not comply” because Biden’s measures “are not only illegal and unconstitutional, they’re morally reprehensible.”
Candidate Jane Timken, the former chair of the Ohio GOP, said in a statement that Biden’s “dictatorial approach is the wrong policy for workers, the wrong policy for businesses and the wrong direction for our country.”
And Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland investment banker also in the race, released a statement saying, “Joe Biden and his Big Brother administration have crossed into authoritarian territory.”
Even State Sen. Matt Dolan, a moderate Republican exploring a Senate bid that would mimic outgoing Sen. Rob Portman’s more bipartisan style, condemned Biden’s move and said on Twitter that “arbitrary rules and authoritarian mandates breed skepticism.”
Ohio’s current Republican members of Congress are similarly frustrated with the forthcoming mandates, though some are making clear they are vaccinated.
Rep. Bill Johnson (R, OH-6), said in a statement, “I’ve taken the vaccine and encourage all Americans to consider getting it too…But rather than being a leader and inspiring and motivating every American to join him in a common cause, [Biden] has vilified and divided” and “is unfit to serve.”
Rep. Troy Balderson (R, OH-12) added, “I am vaccinated. My elderly mother is vaccinated. A majority of Ohioans are vaccinated. But those decisions were our own, not the government’s.”
Some members, like Rep. Bob Gibbs (R, OH-7), questioned the legality and political motivation of Biden’s move.
“Blatantly violating the Constitution is one hell of a way to force his failure in Afghanistan out of the headlines,” Gibbs said in a statement.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R, OH-8) responded to Biden’s announcement by pushing for his legislation, the My Vaccine Passport Prevention Act, to get passed.
“My Vaccine Passport Prevention Act is designed to protect Americans from exactly this sort of overreach and violation of privacy,” Davidson tweeted. “We need to hold a vote and get my colleagues on the record: Do they agree that the Constitution still protects privacy?”
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data that shows unvaccinated people are five times more likely to get infected, 10 times more likely to get hospitalized, and over 10 times more likely to die from COVID-19.
Ohio Democrats in Congress have fully supported Biden’s approach to fighting the pandemic, including his latest mandates.
Rep. Tim Ryan (D, OH-13), who’s currently running for Senate, responded to Josh Mandel’s Twitter video by tweeting, “Josh, even you know this is BS. Stop with the calls to violence. Stop putting Ohioans at risk. We all see right through it — that’s why you’re going to lose. Again.”
