The Republican candidates for Governor are locked in a race to the bottom to become the “super MAGA” candidate — and it’s threatening public health.
PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania Republicans are battling among each other in the “super MAGA Trump” primary to appeal to the former president and his diehard supporters — and now they’re taking aim at mask and vaccine public health guidance. Over the weekend, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that gubernatorial candidates like Bill McSwain, Lou Barletta, and Doug Mastriano are spreading misinformation and attacking the decisions of local communities and businesses to implement mask and vaccine mandates, even though those mandates are widely popular.
Like their obsession with the Big Lie and absurd conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, Pennsylvania Republicans are more concerned with winning over Trump’s MAGA base than addressing the challenges facing Pennsylvania.
In case you missed it, check out the Philadelphia Inquirer’s report below:
Philadelphia Inquirer: Mask and vaccine mandates have broad support, polls show. But some Pa. Republicans are campaigning against them.
By Andrew Seidman, 08/29/21
Bill McSwain, the former prosecutor turned potential gubernatorial candidate, went after the “radical left” for “ignoring science by forcing kids to wear masks at school.”
Facebook ads paid for by Jeff Bartos’ Senate campaign feature an image meant to mock President Joe Biden’s call for a grassroots vaccine education campaign and urge supporters to “say NO to door-to-door Joe!”
And gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta blasted Gov. Tom Wolf’s call for the legislature to mandate masks in schools, saying, “Parents should decide what is best for their children — not power hungry politicians.”
As governments, universities, and private employers around the country impose new masking and vaccine requirements to contain the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, Pennsylvania Republicans eyeing statewide office are pushing back against what they call overreach.
[…]Confirmed coronavirus cases have jumped 62% in the last two weeks in Pennsylvania, according to data compiled by the New York Times, and hospitalizations — primarily among unvaccinated people — are up 70%.
The number of shots administered to Pennsylvania residents in August has surpassed the July total, according to an Inquirer analysis. Scientific evidence shows the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective in preventing serious illness from a disease that has killed more than 600,000 Americans.
[…]A national USA Today-Ipsos survey last week found 66% of adults support state and local government mask requirements, and 62% support employers requiring workers to get shots. And 69% of adults say school districts should be able to require students and staff to wear a mask, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll this month.
[…]State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin), a top ally of former President Donald Trump and a likely contender for governor, has promoted viral videos of people lashing out at government officials over new mandates, including one of a woman who told a school board her kids won’t wear masks because “their brain needs oxygen to grow.” (Researchers have said there is no evidence to support the idea that masks cause dangerous oxygen deprivation.)
Mastriano and some other Republicans also oppose vaccine mandates.
Mastriano voted for legislation — later vetoed by Wolf — that would have banned a wide range of public and private entities from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Mastriano has spread an array of misinformation about the vaccines, including a video on Facebook that falsely says they cause autism and kill children.
McSwain, the former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia who’s now considering a run for governor, and Bartos, a Lower Merion real estate developer, both launched fund-raising campaigns that seized on Biden’s push to boost vaccination rates by having volunteers and community leaders go door-knocking to educate people about the shots.
“We need to go to community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oftentimes, door-to-door — literally knocking on doors — to get help to” unvaccinated people, Biden said last month.
Not long after, McSwain’s political committee, Freedom PA, blasted out a text message that read: “Joe Biden’s America: Go door to door & force you to get a vaccine. What will you do if the liberal mob knocks your door down?”
The message directed recipients to the PAC’s fund-raising page on the digital platform WinRed.
White House and public health officials say no one is being compelled to get the vaccine at their door. And the grassroots efforts were already underway in Philadelphia and across the country. In the Philadelphia region, canvassers and public health workers say in-person outreach has helped reach low-income and nonwhite communities by answering people’s questions and dispelling misinformation.
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