The battle over coronavirus lockdowns is now raging in political battleground states.
In Wisconsin, bar owners threw open their doors after the state’s majority-conservative Supreme Court ruled the governor’s stay-home-order was unconstitutional.
“Now we have no plan and we have no protections for the people of Wisconsin,” said Gov. Tony Evers. “This will cause spikes across the state, there’s no question about it.”
In Michigan, anti-shutdown protesters demanded Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lift restrictions.
And in Pennsylvania, President Trump toured a medical equipment distributor, making his sympathies clear.
“We have to get your governor of Pennsylvania to start opening up a little bit,” President Trump told employees of Owens & Minor Inc. “You have areas of Pennsylvania that are hardly affected and they want to keep them closed. You can’t do that.”
From his home in Delaware, presumptive Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden praised local leadership in a fresh rebuke of the Trump administration.
“Governors, mayors, local leaders [are] all stepping up all across the country,” former Vice President Biden told a virtual roundtable with Democratic governors. “Republicans and Democrats alike [are] filling the vacuum of leadership. ... I believe the federal government should be having your backs and hasn't done enough.”
Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are expected to help determine who wins the presidential race, and the response to the COVID-19 crisis, especially in these battleground states, is quickly getting swamped by the forces of partisan politics.
