US Midterms 2022: Democrats lost voter support when they closed schools and businesses during Covid

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You won’t find the “Covid response” ranking among voters’ top concerns in any of the polls.

Well-founded fears about the economy, inflation, crime and education are the issues that make all the headlines.

But think for a moment: the COVID pandemic is hanging over everything like a hangover.

Has your company gone under?

Have you had trouble buying baby food?

Is your neighborhood less safe?

Has your child missed a grade?

Pandemic policies took all of these fears into account.

There are four states today electing governors that best illustrate the tough political battle over Covid policy.

And in a stunning rebuke to draconian, business-shattering, school-closing lockdowns, the leaders who reopen first are cruising to victory, while the panicked, power-hungry politicians, who drank the deepest from the cup of COVID madness, hold their collective breaths this election day.

In the free states of Georgia and Florida have governments. Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis, who both won squeakers four years ago, are ahead by a staggering double digits.

In Michigan and New York have governments. Gretchen Whitmer and Kathy Hochul, once considered untouchable, are now fighting for their political lives.

In the free states of Georgia and Florida have governments. Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis (above), who both won squeakers four years ago, are ahead by a staggering double digits.

In Michigan and New York have governments.  Gretchen Whitmer and Kathy Hochul (above), once considered untouchable, are now fighting for their political lives.

In Michigan and New York have governments. Gretchen Whitmer and Kathy Hochul (above), once considered untouchable, are now fighting for their political lives.

And let’s not forget Stacey Abrams, the perennial governor candidate who still thinks she won the 2018 Georgia race. Her Covid hysteria helped destroy her 2022 chances.

Early on in the pandemic, New York and Michigan state infamously forced elderly Covid patients from hospitals back into nursing homes with deadly consequences. And that was just the beginning of the parade of policy horrors.

Hochul’s disgraced predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, was a hero to the left and the media — even nauseatingly winning an Emmy for hosting daily self-service COVID briefings.

That morbid obsession came to a halt after he was exposed as a sexual harasser and con artist, whose administration eerily tried to hide the deadly impact of his nursing home policies.

And who can forget the cavalcade of erratic Covid restrictions, changing every day or so for over a year in places like New York City and Detroit.

Small businesses that were unwilling and unable to comply were simply destroyed; by some estimates, as many as a third of them are all in Gotham.

Police officers raided Mac’s Public House in Staten Island because the pub refused to enforce mask mandates. They were fined and harassed. Now they seem prescient.

Hochul could have taken a new path.

But she didn’t.

She clung like a determined despot to the emergency powers bestowed on her under the state’s COVID disaster declaration, renewing them month after month, until finally, in September, she realized that the New Yorkers had moved on.

Now the party that made this possible gets what they deserve.

And who can forget the hypocrisy?

Think of the smiling faces of Hochul and Abrams in photos of masked schoolchildren, mocking not only the children and their parents, but common sense itself.

The rules imposed on all the little people did not apply to the rule makers.

Whitmer discouraged travel out of state for Michiganders, only to see jet headed to Florida for some much-needed R&R.

Think of the smiling faces of Hochul and Abrams (above) in photos of masked schoolchildren, who mock not only the children and their parents, but common sense itself.

Think of the smiling faces of Hochul and Abrams (above) in photos of masked schoolchildren, who mock not only the children and their parents, but common sense itself.

Hochul (top center in red) clung like a determined despot to the emergency powers conferred on her under the state's COVID disaster declaration, renewing them month after month, until finally realizing in September that New Yorkers had gone further.

Hochul (top center in red) clung like a determined despot to the emergency powers conferred on her under the state’s COVID disaster declaration, renewing them month after month, until finally realizing in September that New Yorkers had gone further.

So, does Whitmer regret crushing her state with lockdowns?

A local TV news station tried to ask her that this week. And wouldn’t you know that the governor suddenly had “audio problems” and couldn’t answer the question.

Last but certainly not least, we are only now learning about the harm, yes harm, inflicted on children in closed-off states who have been denied the basic right to go to school.

Florida was the first state to reopen schools for 5 days a week of personal learning. Texas was right behind it.

They opened businesses, opened churches, opened bars and restaurants. They banned the mandates for masks and vaccines. And for that they were pilloried.

The Atlantic Magazine blared a false headline accusing Kemp of “human sacrifice” in Georgia. DeSantis was portrayed by the media as something between a murderer and a war criminal.

It was a full court press of slander and false accusations from our dear old media, but it didn’t work.

Republican governors listened to their voters, not pundits like Fauci and the CDC’s clown car. Now those voters are rewarding them.

Kemp, DeSantis and Texas Governor Gregg Abbott dominate their reelection campaigns.

But if you think the Democrats learned their lesson on the eve of the election, think again.

Abrams was on television Sunday, accusing Kemp of “prematurely” reopening his state.

How long would she have kept us in our cellars? Eternally?

So, does Whitmer (above, left) regret crushing her state with lockdowns?  A local TV news station tried to ask her that this week.  And wouldn't you know that the governor suddenly had

So, does Whitmer (above, left) regret crushing her state with lockdowns? A local TV news station tried to ask her that this week. And wouldn’t you know that the governor suddenly had “audio problems” and couldn’t answer the question.

If you woke up on Election Day and lived in Florida or Georgia, you live in a state that has had a strong economic boom, where people are actually moving and not fleeing.

Between the start of the pandemic in early 2020 and the summer of 2022, the red states added 341,000 jobs, while the blue states still had a job shortage of 1.3 million.

Need I say more?

If, on the other hand, you woke up in New York or Michigan, the exact opposite is true.

If you’re still not convinced, consider this: One of Colorado’s few safe incumbent Democratic governors, Jared Polis, was just about the only leader with a D to his name who showed restraint and didn’t just shut everything down.

“The emergency is over,” he declared in December 2021. Meanwhile, toddlers in New York City were still wearing masks.

Polis is currently on the 2024 presidential shortlist.

As people go to the polls, it’s clear like the summer sun that anti-lockdown governors are being rewarded.

The elections in this quartet of states send an important message. Even if Hochul and Whitmer keep up their races, they’d be a cinch, no public reprimands.

When all is said and done, the lockdowns may be lost.