After President Joe Biden announced sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal workers, contractors and large private employers, New Hampshire Republicans treated it as a winning political issue while Democrats largely stayed quiet. NH Journal reports both the state GOP and House Majority Leader Jason Osborne fundraised against the order over the weekend.
While the NHGOP is aggressively fundraising off the president’s forced-vaccine order, Biden’s fellow Democrats are still largely silent, with cracks showing in their party’s coalition.
NH Journal
NH Journal lays out the scope of the federal mandates Biden announced.
Last week, Biden announced he is ordering all federal workers and contractors to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus as a condition of employment. He’s also issuing a similar mandate for employees of any healthcare facility that takes Medicare or Medicaid patients, which will reach the vast majority of the industry. And he intends to use an obscure Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation to force private companies with 100 employees or more to be inoculated or face weekly testing.
NH Journal
The report notes legal scholars were uncertain whether the proposals could pass constitutional muster, and that they were expected to be challenged in court.
Republicans moved quickly to make their case to supporters, according to NH Journal.
Both the state Republican Party and House Majority Leader Jason Osborne sent fundraising emails over the weekend, as did at least one House Republican.
NH Journal
The outlet quotes NHGOP chairman Steve Stepanek framing the mandate as overreach.
The Biden administration has gone too far. Their vaccine mandate is indefensible, unconstitutional, and un-American,
NH Journal
The GOP’s read on the politics was unmistakable, NH Journal notes, even as Democrats offered little public response in the immediate aftermath.
But Granite State Republicans are certain they’ve got a winning issue.
NH Journal
The episode highlighted how the two parties approached the federal order in sharply different ways, with one side organizing its messaging around opposition and the other largely holding back.
The court challenges to the mandate remained unresolved as the political fight continued, NH Journal reports. The issue shaped early positioning heading toward the next election cycle, with Republicans signaling they intended to keep it front and center.
Stepanek urged supporters to help the party press the issue into the next election.
The mandate’s reach across federal and private workplaces gave Republicans a broad target.
Democratic officials in the state largely declined to weigh in publicly as the order took shape.
Republicans organized their messaging and fundraising within days of the announcement.
The court challenges to the order remained unresolved as the political fight continued.
The contrast set the issue up as an early flashpoint of the cycle, NH Journal reports.
The party framed the order as federal overreach in its appeals to donors.
The party leaned on the issue to energize its base ahead of the midterms.
Republicans argued the order singled out hardworking Americans for a federal mandate.
The split between the parties was visible within days of Biden’s announcement.
The fundraising appeals framed the mandate as a constitutional overreach.
The fight over the mandate continued in the courts and on the campaign trail.
Read the full story at NH Journal.
