Buckeye Reporter

Ohio Senator J.D. Vance stood with Donald Trump’s claim the left is using new strains of Covid to send the country back into lockdown as a control mechanism, promising to push legislation to stop such lockdowns.

"Trump is right," Vance said. "The left is trying to bring lockdowns back. Next week, I’ll introduce legislation to stop it.

Vance shared the comments on Platform X, along with a video shared by the official Trump Campaign account. “COVID Tyrants want to take away our Freedom,” the post said. “Hear my words— WE WILL NOT COMPLY.” The accompanying video featured Trump speaking about how the left was using the emerging Covid variants to incite fear.

“They want to restart the Covid hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal drop boxes, more mail-in ballots, and trillions of dollars in payoffs to their political allies heading into the 2024 election,” Trump said in the video. “We will not shut down our school, we will not accept your lockdowns, we will not abide by your mask mandates, and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.” Trump promised, when he was back in office, to cut federal funding to any public entity that imposed mask or vaccine mandates.

A new Covid variant has been named EG.5 (or Eris) and reportedly makes up the majority of all Covid cases in the country, according to a Health.com report. While other strains have been detected globally, the symptoms of the Eris variant, a descendent of Omicron, have appeared to be much milder than earlier strains.

Vance was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, enlisting in the Marines in the early 2000s and serving during the Iraq War. After his time in the military, Vance attended and graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He has also published a book, titled “Hillbilly Elegy.” He held several positions in politics and law before he was elected to the Senate in 2022.