There has been much buzz in the news since Virginia's new governor, Glenn Youngkin (R), issued an executive order giving parents the ultimate say in whether their children should wear masks at school. But in the red state of Indiana, Republican Governor Eric Holcomb continues supporting mask mandates and quarantines for students.
With evidence showing that fewer than 10 of the more than 3,000 children who were quarantined last year in one school district had actually contracted COVID-19, an Indiana judge has now allowed a lawsuit against the governor and other state officials to move forward.
"We have a Republican governor, but it's really hard to tell for a lot of voters who think that Republicans stand for the constitutional principles and for families and for parental rights over special interests," comments Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana.
He says his state's Republican-controlled legislature is beholden to the teachers union and the chamber of commerce.
"Both of those are left-wing groups," Clark continues. "They are against any pushback on mandates for vaccines or pushback on employers not being able to fire people who don't get vaccinated. We have a lot of left-wing special interests, and we have a governor who doesn't have a lot of backbone to push, and a lot of the Republicans here don't push back."
So Clark is glad that this suit is moving forward.
"These parents in Ft. Wayne, Indiana are suing the school for the time lost when their kids were sent home when they weren't even sick," Clark says.
During a recent appearance on American Family Radio, Gary Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families (CWF), said conservatives have been cheering since Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares were sworn into office earlier this month. Liberals, however, are not taking the changes well.
"Way back in the 1800s, if a woman fainted, doctors said she had a case of the vapors," Bauer said. "Well, liberals in Virginia have had a case of the vapors; they're fainting left and right. Youngkin came in, and immediately he started governing like a conservative. He fired this parole board that was letting criminals out, he announced that parents would be put back in charge of their children's education, [and] he ordered an end to mask mandates in schools."
Bauer is also encouraged by Youngkin's executive order banning critical race theory from the state's public schools.
"I think that this may make Virginia in play not only this coming November, but it may make Virginia back in play in 2024, which would be a great development for presidential politics," the CWF chairman added.
Meanwhile, Clark hopes Indiana's version of Glenn Youngkin will emerge in the 2022 Indiana gubernatorial race.
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