WASHINGTON — Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, one of the most vulnerable incumbent governors in the nation, appears to be sprinting away from President Joe Biden as both struggle with a bundle of challenges a year and a half into the pandemic.
Kelly forcefully broke with Biden on Friday on vaccine and testing requirements for private businesses, issuing a statement that called the policy counterproductive to the goal of increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates.
The statement cemented an approach Kelly tentatively floated Thursday, when she called the rules “a little tough to deal with.” And it made clear the governor is willing to push against the leader of her party as she heads into a tough reelection fight in a Republican-leaning state.
“I reviewed the new vaccine mandate from the Biden administration. While I appreciate the intention to keep people safe, a goal I share, I don’t believe this directive is the correct, or the most effective, solution for Kansas,” Kelly said.
“States have been leading the fight against COVID-19 from the start of the pandemic. It is too late to impose a federal standard now that we have already developed systems and strategies that are tailored for our specific needs. I will seek a resolution that continues to recognize the uniqueness of our state and builds on our ongoing efforts to combat a once-in-a-century crisis.”
Kelly, who is on the ballot in 2022, is the most prominent Democrat to oppose the policy, which sets a deadline of Jan. 4 for businesses of more than 100 employees to ensure full vaccination or require regular testing of their workers.
Her comments follow a wave of lawsuits from Republican attorneys general, including her presumed 2022 challenger Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt. They also come at a point when the president appears politically weakened by sagging approval numbers and a Democratic loss in the Virginia governor’s race.
The White House did not immediately respond to Kelly’s comments.
Biden’s team has repeatedly asserted that the president has authority to order the vaccine and testing requirement under the 1970 law that established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect workers.
“The question that we always have, that we ask for the Republicans, is why are you getting in the way? Why are they getting in the way of trying to protect and save lives? That’s what we’re trying to do,” Karine Jean-Pierre, White House deputy press secretary, said Thursday.
Kelly’s opposition complicates the administration’s ability to dismiss these suits as partisan posturing by Republican officials.
Republicans had promised lawsuits against Biden’s order when it was first announced in September, but Kelly waited until OSHA’s formal issuance of the rule this week to express her opposition.
Republicans dismissed Kelly’s promise of unspecified action against Biden’s order as hollow and politically motivated.
“The only reason she is feigning disapproval now is because realizes that her unconditional loyalty to Biden and national Democrats is an albatross around her neck. It’s too little too late,” said Joanna Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Republican Governors Association.
Kelly’s statement comes just three days after Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in the race for governor in a state Biden won by 10 points just a year ago.
Youngkin’s win stunned the Democratic Party nationally and put a spotlight on vulnerable governors. Kelly is the only incumbent Democratic governor running for reelection in a state former President Donald Trump won.
“You know I really do focus on Kansas and I think Kansas is unique,” Kelly said Thursday, when asked what the Virginia results boded for her own reelection prospects. “And I think the approach that we’ve taken to governing is unique and I think that’s the approach we will take towards November 2022 is just stay focused on what Kansas needs and what Kansans want.”
However, in a fundraising message to supporters Wednesday, Kelly’s campaign called the Virginia results a “wake-up call” for the Kansas race.
“Extreme national Republicans are fired up after their victories in Virginia, and that could mean big problems for our race as they turn their full focus on Kansas,” the message read.
Incumbent Kansas governors have traditionally faced difficulty getting reelected when their party controls the White House. The last who won reelection while their party controlled the White House was Democrat Robert Docking, who won his first reelection in 1968 when President Lyndon Johnson was in office.
Biden’s national approval rating fell to 42% in October, an 11-point drop from April, according to a poll released by NBC News this week. If Biden’s approval numbers don’t recover, he’s likely to be a drag on Kelly and other battleground governors in 2022.
“Democrats across the country have raced to distance themselves from President Biden after Tuesday’s elections, so it’s not surprising to see the governor backtrack on this issue,” said Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican. “Nevertheless, we need every state leader engaged in fighting this gross federal overreach and Republicans will welcome her participation.”
Kelly’s comments came the same day Schmidt and other Republican attorneys general filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the rule. Her office declined to say whether she supported Schmidt’s lawsuit or why she waited until this week to voice her opposition.
“Attorney General Schmidt has been fighting Joe Biden’s mandates since the moment they were announced. After two months of silence, Laura Kelly has now voiced her concerns some 36 hours after her party suffered defeat in blue state Virginia — words accompanied by no action,” Schmidt’s campaign manager C.J. Grover said in a statement.
“Kansans are smart, and can see which candidate is acting on principle defending their livelihood and which is making a desperate political ploy to save her own job.”
Kelly’s political allies took a similar tack as the governor in distancing themselves from the president’s policy.
State Rep. Vic Miller, a Topeka Democrat who sits on a legislative committee examining the federal rules, said it was appropriate for Schmidt to file a lawsuit against the rule, but he also disputed the notion that Kelly’s Friday comments represented a shift for the governor.
“In Kansas, all us Democrats seem to suffer sometimes from policies at the national level, and policies from just particular national figures. So I don’t see what she has said as being anything different from what her current position is. She has not attempted to place any mandates, either for masks or vaccine mandates,” Miller said.
Kelly has issued mask mandates in the past, but hasn’t sought any statewide rules since this spring and has avoided vaccine mandates.
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