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The Republican primary in Virginia’s 2nd district continues to lurch to the far right as candidates Jarome Bell and Jen Kiggans hustle to prove their extreme opposition to measures to crush the pandemic.
For months, Jarome Bell has been spreading COVID-19 misinformation online, including repeatedly promoting horse dewormer ivermectin to treat the virus, baselessly calling for Dr. Fauci to be arrested and executed, and spreading fake news on the vaccine’s efficacy. And Bell’s latest fringe conspiracy, wrongly claiming Dr. Fauci planned the pandemic, landed him a temporary Twitter suspension for his dishonest and absurd claims.
But Bell isn’t the only far-right extremist in the race hindering Coastal Virginians’ ability to end the pandemic. Jen Kiggans recently came out in opposition to mandates of any vaccine including flu, shingles, and pneumonia, which have been protecting Virginians from infectious diseases for decades, and promised to “fight back” against these safety measures.
Bell and Kiggans’ out-of-touch and backwards response to measures to end the pandemic come as a recent Fox News poll shows “majorities support mask and vaccine mandates” as “three-quarters of registered voters are ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ concerned about the pandemic.”
“Jen Kiggans and Jarome Bell have proven they stand with far-right extremists in their party even when it means jeopardizing our economic recovery and delaying Coastal Virginians’ ability to crush the pandemic,” said DCCC spokesperson Elena Kuhn. “It’s clear that Virginians can’t count on Kiggans or Bell to deliver independent leadership that will look out for hard-working families and small businesses by taking steps to end COVID-19 once and for all.” |
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