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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a right-wing media darling, a staunch Trump conservative trying to position himself as the heir to the former president’s political brand. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York is a descendant of a liberal political dynasty, a Trump antagonist with his own long-simmering presidential ambitions.
Both have been at the forefront of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. But the recent twists and turns in their political fortunes underscore how different the two sides score at this volatile moment. Democrats and Republicans aren’t just on different teams in this pandemic, they’re playing by totally different rules.
Less than a year ago, Mr Cuomo was a Democratic darling, hailed for his handling of the virus in a state that has been hit hard by the pandemic. Celebrities have declared themselves “cuomosexual”, his daily briefings have become staple on television and political rumors have whispered about a presidential candidacy. The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded him an Emmy for his 111 “masterful” information sessions on coronaviruses. He published a memoir on his leadership, taking a victory lap with the race far from over.
There were no such distinctions for Mr. DeSantis. Called “DeathSantis” and laughed at for allowing “Florida MoronsTo wrap state beaches, Mr. DeSantis has faced national contempt for his resistance to closures. Last fall, he lifted all restrictions, keeping schools open for in-person learning and prohibiting local authorities from closing businesses or fining people for not wearing masks.
“I see, in many parts of our country, a sad state of affairs: schools closed, businesses closed and lives destroyed,” DeSantis said, offering a strong defense of his pandemic response to the Florida’s legislative session opens this week. “While so many other states continued to lock people up, Florida uplifted people.”
The same could be said of Mr. DeSantis’ political ambitions.
For Republicans, loyalty to the former president and his familiar issues has become the ultimate litmus test. Mr DeSantis ticked all the boxes: fighting the media, interviewing scientific experts, embracing baseless allegations of electoral fraud and insulting the Liberals.
The Conservatives rewarded the governor for his loyalty. His approval rating has risen above the water in recent weeks, with some Republican polls showing Mr. DeSantis getting higher marks than Mr. Trump. He finished first in a straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend, covering a field of potential presidential candidates that did not include Mr. Trump, fueling discussions over a 2024 candidacy .
The Democratic Party has adopted a very different kind of political norm, based not on allegiance to President Biden, but on ideological and cultural purity. Throughout the Trump era, Democrats equated politics with morality as a means of attacking a Republican president who was the victim of racist and sexist attacks. They are posing as the #MeToo accountability party, pressuring those in their ranks accused of sexual misconduct to step down.
This has left Democrats with accusations of hypocrisy over Mr Cuomo, who is now accused of sexually harassing several young women. While Mr. Cuomo has few supporters, many powerful Democrats in New York, including Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, are pushing for an independent inquiry rather than an immediate resignation. The allegations have left his party divided between those who believe he should step down and others who fear the party will eat its own by clinging to a standard Republicans largely ignore.
It doesn’t help that before this current scandal, Mr Cuomo was already under investigation for allegedly manipulating statistics on the deaths of nursing home residents during the pandemic – destroying his image as a masterful manager of the virus and the Democratic brand of good. the governance. After navigating to a fourth term as governor, Mr. Cuomo is now fighting for his political career. Its approval ratings have dropped nearly 30 points from last May.
Yet for both men, their political fortunes and the tests imposed by their parties seem disconnected from the central question of the moment: did they indeed rule their states during an extraordinarily difficult year?
The data are quite inconclusive. When adjusted for population, Florida has a lower death rate than New York, including in long-term care facilities like nursing homes, but a higher case rate in overall, and it leads the country in the number of most contagious cases. and a more deadly British variant of the virus. Slightly more Floridians – 8.7% of the population – than New Yorkers have received two doses of a Covid vaccine, but almost the same percentage of the population in both states received the first dose.
Of course, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. New York was the epicenter of the nation’s first wave, before doctors had the equipment, experience and drugs to fight a new disease. States like Florida have learned from New York. Yet despite Mr Cuomo’s best efforts to use his platform to stop the spread of the disease, he has resisted early calls for lockdown – a delay that has undeniably played a role in the high death toll.
About a year after the start of the pandemic, Mr. Cuomo fell from his perch as a liberal icon. Mr. DeSantis has become a conservative celebrity. And New Yorkers and Floridians are still crying, in hiding, and waiting for brighter days.
Over the past year, life has changed in both small and big ways. We are curious how the virus has affected your political views. Maybe you went from MAGA-head to Bernie bro? Found a new love for big government after decades of worrying about debt? Or even a new set of QAnon friends?
Let us know how the virus has changed your political views and you could be featured in an upcoming edition of On Politics. As usual, please include your full name and place of residence. We would love to hear from you!
Write to us at [email protected] or send me a message at @llerer.
23 contestants participate in a home run in the Dallas area.
The filing was closed this week in the race for a suburban Dallas congressional district that became vacant upon the death of Rep. Ron Wright, a Republican hospitalized with coronavirus in January.
Twenty-three candidates – 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, a libertarian and an independent “constitutionalist” – ran in the May 1 special elections. The overcrowded race reflects a sense of political uncertainty, as both sides fight for their future in the Lone Star State.
While Republicans pushed back efforts to overthrow the state in November, Democrats still believe Texas is moving in their direction. The contest in the Sixth Congressional District, which includes suburban Dallas and more rural counties, will offer early clues as to whether suburban voters continue to have a Democratic lean without Mr. Trump on the ticket.
Local Republican leaders rallied behind Susan Wright, a party activist who is the widow of the congressman. Other Republican candidates include former Trump officials, politicians who have already lost primaries in the district and Dan Rodimer, a former professional wrestler who ran for Congress last year in Nevada.
“I have six children and I want them to be raised in a constitutionally compliant state,” Mr Rodimer said, filling out his papers an hour before the deadline.
Democratic candidates include Jana Lynne Sanchez, the party’s 2018 candidate for the seat, Lydia Bean, the 2020 Democratic candidate, and local community leaders.
The contest is an election of all parties; If no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, the top two will head to a second round – a race that could pit two candidates from the same party against each other.
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