GOP governors tie economy to pragmatic approach to coronavirus

FILE - In this April 30, 2021, file photo surrounded by lawmakers, Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis speaks at the end of a legislative session at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Now that the pandemic appears to be waning and DeSantis is heading into his reelection campaign next year, he has emerged from the political uncertainty as one of the most prominent Republican governors and an early White House front-runner in 2024 among Donald Trump's acolytes, if the former president doesn't run again. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. — Republican governors running for reelection have begun trumpeting the party’s more pragmatic approach to the coronavirus pandemic, trying to flip the script on an issue that Democrats say helped narrowly win the White House and control of Capitol Hill in 2020.

GOP governors, especially in populous, diverse Sun Belt states, credit a resurgent economy to their resistance to strict public health protocols they frame as shackles. At the same time, Republican challengers are hammering Democratic governors as slow to relax business restrictions, end mask mandates and reopen schools full time. And across the board, Republicans relish swipes at Democratic bastions New York and California, “lockdown states” where unemployment remains higher than the national mark.

“Choosing to lock down heavy and hard for an extended period of time hasn’t proven to help states in the long run,” said Joanna Rodriguez of the Republican Governors Association. She said GOP governors “talked to each other throughout the pandemic and talked about what was working. Now we can see the value of that leadership. … Our governors certainly will run on that record.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp recently described his stewardship of a “measured reopening” as the way to “protect lives against COVID-19, but also protect your livelihood and your paycheck.” Speaking at the state GOP convention recently, he took swipes at “Joe Biden and the liberals,” along with “scientists and doctors that were getting paid to sit in their basement during the pandemic” and urge a shuttered economy.

Kemp emphasized the most recent unemployment data. U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics measured a 4.3% April unemployment rate in Georgia, compared with 6.1% nationally. The U.S. rate fell to 5.8% in May. State-by-state data for May hasn’t been released.

Georgia had “the lowest unemployment rate” among the 10 most populous states, even lower, Kemp crowed, than GOP-run Florida and Texas, “and, of course, lower than New York and California,” where unemployment measured 8.3% and 8.2%, respectively.

In Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated his state’s April measure, 4.8%.

“None of that would’ve been possible had we done lockdown policies … had we done a lot of the things a lot of these other states have done,” he told reporters recently. He dismissed a potential general election rival, state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, as a “lockdown lobbyist” and insisted she would have closed businesses and schools.

Fried lacks the broad executive authority that DeSantis has had in those arenas, but the governor’s swipes nonetheless allowed him to highlight his early push to reopen Florida’s restaurants, bars and other hot spots in the state’s tourism-heavy economy.

GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is embracing the overall economic uptick. Abbott made his state one of the first to reject extra unemployment insurance aid from Washington on the grounds that “the Texas economy is booming.” The $300-per-person weekly boost will end later this month under Abbott’s order. Most Republican-led states have followed suit.

As long as the economy continues to recover, Democratic governors also will run on their leadership through the pandemic, likely arguing that the tight lockdowns and protocols work.

“Any governor is going to talk about how they steered their state through this and got people back to work,” said Dave Carney, one of Abbott’s top political advisers, while any challenger, he added, must poke holes in the incumbent’s narrative.

Paul Maslin, a Democratic pollster who has worked statewide campaigns across the country, said that coming out of an event as all-consuming as a pandemic, those textbook plays come with unknown risks and rewards for both parties.

Republicans are pushing that case already with attacks against Govs. Laura Kelly, D-Kan., and Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., for their earlier position on closing schools. The GOP also is testing the reach of parents’ frustration in Virginia, trying to saddle Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe with outgoing Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s pandemic policies ahead of the state’s election this November.