Swing-state Democratic governors under duress over stay-at-home orders - POLITICO

By CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO04/17/2020 07:54 PM EDTLink CopiedRepublican legislators in multiple presidential battleground states are amping up pressure on Democratic governors to reopen their economies — clashes that are certain to shape the views of a critical slice of the electorate in November.Democratic officials across Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota are resisting overtures to roll back public health closures: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers just extended his state’s stay-at-home order despite legal threats from Republicans, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced he will veto a GOP bill to expand which businesses are deemed too important to shutter. In the Michigan state Senate, Democrats need three to tie and four to flip the upper chamber.Minnesota is the last state in the country with a divided Legislature: Democrats won a majority in the state House two years ago and need just two seats to win the Senate.So far, at least, voters have given governors the benefit of the doubt on how to manage the pandemic in their states, said Ben Golnik, a Republican strategist in Minnesota and former executive director of the state House Republicans caucus. “You’d think from the last week the governor is now some emperor back in Rome.” Republican legislators in Wisconsin have grown so impatient with Evers’ decision to close schools for the rest of the year and extend stay-at-home orders until late May that they are targeting state health officials and threatening curbs on the Democratic governor's power. Jensen said there have been increased suicides and calls to abuse lines, an underappreciated toll of the crisis.President Trump called on Democratic governors to “LIBERATE” their states from stay-at-home orders.A group of Minnesota House Republicans, meanwhile, proposed halting Walz’s emergency powers.