Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly spent 18 months sparring with Kansas’ legislative Republicans over COVID-19 measures. In the early days of the pandemic she imposed and then extended a stay-at-home order, issued a brief statewide mask mandate and tried to limit in-person worship services – all while meeting growls of GOP protest. Then in November, two days after Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe to become governor of reliably blue Virginia, Kelly expressed her first opposition to Democratic President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates.
