Thread by @TaylorPopielarz

So, despite the fact that unvaccinated Americans make up the overwhelming majority of current #COVID19 hospitalizations and deaths, many Ohio Republicans are upset with the vaccine mandate and other rules President Biden announced yesterday.

A thread of some reactions ⤵️

#OHSen candidate @JDVance1:

"I have a simple message for America’s business community: DO NOT COMPLY. Do not comply with the mandates. Do not pay the government fines. Don’t allow yourself to be bullied and controlled. Only mass civil disobedience will save us..."

#OHSen candidate @JoshMandelOhio posted a video message from a cornfield in Ohio.

In it, he said his "blood is boiling," lied that Joe Biden is not president, and said if the Supreme Court doesn't stop the mandate, Americans will "know what to do" "when the gestapo show up."

#OHSen candidate @MikeGibbonsOH:

“Joe Biden and his Big Brother administration have crossed into authoritarian territory. Democrats are using fear and mandates to control how Americans live their lives."

#OHSen candidate @JaneTimkenOH:

"This dictatorial approach is the wrong policy for workers, the wrong policy for businesses and the wrong direction for our country."

#OHSen candidate @berniemoreno:

"You have to give @JoeBiden credit for using an unenforceable mandate to distract Americans from his role in the murder of 13 of our soldiers in Afghanistan..."

Potential #OHSen candidate @dolan4ohio, who's exploring a run as a more moderate Republican:

“Businesses of all sizes should decide what’s best for their employees, NOT the government. Arbitrary rules & authoritarian mandates breed skepticism..."

#OH4 Rep. @Jim_Jordan:

"First, they say you can’t go to church. Then, they try to take your guns. Now, they’re trying to take your job. No vaccine mandates!”

#OH5 Rep. @boblatta:

“President Biden’s plan to force all federal workers to get vaccinated is the definition of government overreach..."

#OH6 @RepBillJohnson:

"...I’ve taken the vaccine and encourage all Americans to consider getting it too...But rather than being a leader and inspiring and motivating every American to join him in a common cause, [Biden] has vilified and divided" and "is unfit to serve."

#OH7 @RepBobGibbs:

“Blatantly violating the Constitution is one hell of a way to force [Biden's] failure in Afghanistan out of the headlines..."

#OH8 Rep. @WarrenDavidson:

"My Vaccine Passport Prevention Act is designed to protect Americans from exactly this sort of overreach and violation of privacy. We need to hold a vote and get my colleagues on the record: Do they agree that the Constitution still protects privacy?”

#OH12 @RepBalderson:

“I am vaccinated. My elderly mother is vaccinated. A majority of Ohioans are vaccinated. But those decisions were our own, not the government's..."