GOP governors are ‘playing villain to liberals’ with pandemic race to the bottom: analysis

On Friday, writing for the San Antonio Express-News, columnist Elaine Ayala scorched the GOP governors of Texas and Florida for using their states' citizens as guinea pigs for COVID in a political stunt to go after liberals.

"In the two states leading the nationwide surge in coronavirus cases, two Republican governors are trying to outdo one another in rejecting commonsense policies to contain the crisis," wrote Ayala. "It's Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vs. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "Both face re-election next year, and both are positioning themselves as contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. They've been competing to defy public health recommendations, despite the deadly risk to many of their supporters."

Abbott is barreling ahead with a plan to reopen schools that doesn't even require contact tracing. Meanwhile, DeSantis is actively trying to ban local school districts from mandating masks.

"DeSantis may be taking the greater risk with his COVID policies, since his reelection as governor is by no means assured. In Texas, Abbott should have nothing to worry about, [UT professor Jon] Taylor said," wrote Ayala. "But, he added, the delta variant could be a game changer if infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise — forcing all levels of leadership to respond. If that happens, Abbott and DeSantis would have a harder time deflecting scrutiny by blaming COVID spikes on undocumented migrants."

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