带走里克·克莱因
正如去年弗吉尼亚州长竞选中著名的一句顺口溜所表明的那样，两党中没有一个政治家希望被视为反对父母。
但是，尽管一些共和党人认为COVID时代很容易开启，双方都不是对与父母有关的问题有明确的把握。这在一定程度上是因为它们不是那种容易回答的问题，也不是那种容易站队的问题。
州和联邦层面的数十名共和党议员正在利用“国家学校选择周”推动法案，允许父母在涉及自己的孩子时无视COVID的要求。
这个问题在包括弗吉尼亚州在内的多个州的法律斗争中展开，共和党州长格伦·扬金签署了一项行政命令，允许学生不戴口罩上学。七个学区正在起诉，要求有权在其学校保留口罩的规定。
“对父母，我说:我们尊重你，”扬金说在《华盛顿邮报》的一篇专栏文章中写道周二出版。
旧金山正在发生不同的变化，三名进步学校董事会成员将于下月面临罢免投票。对学校重新开放和COVID住宿处理的失望让许多民主党人——包括伦敦市长布拉德——支持召回。
《旧金山纪事报》编辑委员会本周在支持召回时写道:“能力很重要。“对于那些追求进步议程的人来说，这是事实其他任何人。"
COVID政治变化的另一个迹象是乔·拜登总统如何处理最近的问题。总统在最近几周多次表示，无论新变种的威胁如何，学校都应该保持开放。
与...的关系阿维·哈珀
亚利桑那州参议员基尔斯顿·西内马要到2024年才能连任，但政治团体和捐助者已经在为罢免她做准备。
紧接着，西内玛因拒绝支持参议院而受到亚利桑那州民主党的谴责规则变更这可能会为投票改革立法的通过让路，一个支持拉丁裔选民的团体——Voto Latino发起了一场名为“Adios Sinema”的运动
该组织计划在她的初选期间进行六位数的投资，理由是西内马不仅在投票权上，而且在最低工资、疫情对无证移民的救济以及影响拉丁裔社区的“其他改革”上的立场。
该组织网站上的一份声明称:“西内玛的行为直接损害和压制了选举她上台的拉丁裔人的权利和福祉。
在接受美国有线电视新闻网采访时，亚利桑那州众议员鲁本·加列戈证实了他在纽约会见了西内马的一些捐赠者的报道。加列戈毕业于哈佛大学，是一名退伍军人，也是西班牙裔移民的儿子，他曾有过在初选中与西内玛竞选的想法。加列戈说他不会就一个初步出价但他得到了捐赠者的保证，如果他参加竞选，他们会支持他。
“我会和任何有兴趣和我谈论那场比赛的人会面，”加列戈说。“而且不仅仅是捐赠者。这是亚利桑那州人的日常生活。是工会和很多组织帮助亚利桑那州变成了一个蓝色州，所以这些对话会一直进行下去。”
小费亚里沙·维尔塞马
各州重新划分选区努力的余波正在全国各地显现，距离中期初选全面展开只剩下几个月的时间了。在某些情况下，新地图迫使现任者重新评估他们的连任计划，比如民主党众议员吉姆·库珀(Jim Cooper)的情况，他周二宣布不会在他的新田纳西州寻求连任。
“尽管我在民意调查中很有实力，但我无法阻止大会肢解纳什维尔。没有人更努力地保持我们城市的完整。库珀在一份声明中说:“我探索了各种可能的方式，包括诉讼，以停止不公正的选区划分，并赢得现在划分纳什维尔的三个新国会选区之一，”他补充说，“没有办法，至少对我来说，在这个选举周期，但可能有一条道路给其他有价值的候选人。”
与此同时，在宾夕法尼亚州，重新划分选区也给选举管理在上个月前代理国务卿发出警告后，似乎没有采取什么措施来加快新地图的实施。共和党议员和民主党州长汤姆·沃尔夫(Tom Wolf)在新地图的最终版本应该是什么样的问题上陷入僵局，这使得该州的联邦法院最终可能不得不绘制地图。
去年12月，国务卿办公室表示，选区重新划分需要在1月24日前完成，这样候选人就有足够的时间正式开始提交文件，以便在他们的选区竞选。随着最后期限的到来，现在还不清楚立法者是否愿意调整该州的选举日程。他们上一次推迟选举日期是在2020年，以应对新兴疫情的影响。
New twists shape politics of COVID and schools: The Note
The TAKE withRick Klein
As a soundbite made famous in last year's Virginia governor's race made clear, no politician in either party wants to be seen as standing against parents.
But while some Republicans see an easy opening in the COVID era,neither partyhas a definite hold on issues relevant to parents. That's in part because they are not the kind of issues that have easy answers, or that allow for an easy taking of sides.
Dozens of Republican lawmakers at the state and federal level are using "National School Choice Week" to press for bills that would allow parents to disregard COVID mandates when it comes to their own children.
The issue is playing out in legal fights in a number of states, including Virginia, where Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has signed an executive order allowing students to attend school without masks. Seven school districts are suing for the right to keep mask mandates at their schools in place.
"To parents, I say: We respect you," Youngkinwrote in a Washington Post op-edpublished Tuesday.
A different twist is developing in San Francisco, where three progressive school board members are facing a recall vote next month. Frustrations over the handling of school reopenings and COVID accommodations have left many Democrats -- including Mayor London Breed -- supporting the recall push.
"Competence matters," the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote this week in endorsing the recalls. "That's as true for those pursuing a progressive agenda as it is foranyone else."
Another sign of the changing politics of COVID comes in how President Joe Biden has handled questions on the topic of late. The president has said numerous times in recent weeks that whatever the threats of a new variant, schools should remain open.
The RUNDOWN withAveri Harper
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., isn't up for reelection until 2024, but political groups and donors are already laying the groundwork in hopes of removing her.
On the heels of Sinema's censure by Arizona's Democratic Party for her refusal to support a Senaterule changethat could have made way for the passage of voting reform legislation, an advocacy group for Latino voters -- Voto Latino -- has launched a campaign called "Adios Sinema."
The group is planning a six-figure investment during her primary, citing Sinema's stance on not only voting rights but also minimum wage, pandemic relief for the undocumented and "other reforms" impacting the Latino community.
"Sinema's actions directly undermine and suppress the right and wellbeing of Latinos that elected her into office," reads a statement on the group's website.
In an interview with CNN, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., confirmed reports that he met with some of Sinema's donors in New York. Gallego is a Harvard grad, a veteran and the son of Hispanic immigrants who has flirted with the idea of running against Sinema in a primary. Gallego said he wouldn't make a decision on aprimary biduntil next year but that he's gotten assurances from donors they will support him if he gets in the race.
"I'll have meetings with anybody that's interested in talking to me about that race," Gallego said. "And it hasn't just been donors. It's been everyday Arizonans. It's been labor unions and, you know, a lot of groups that have helped turn Arizona into a blue state so those conversations will be ongoing."
The TIP withAlisa Wiersema
The aftershocks of states' redistricting efforts are manifesting across the country with just months to go until the midterm primaries are in full swing. In some cases, the new maps are forcing incumbents to reassess their reelection plans -- like in the case of Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper, who announced on Tuesday he would not be seeking reelection in his new Tennessee district.
"Despite my strength at the polls, I could not stop the General Assembly from dismembering Nashville. No one tried harder to keep our city whole. I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three new congressional districts that now divide Nashville," Cooper said in a statement, adding, "there's no way, at least for me in this election cycle, but there may be a path for other worthy candidates."
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, redistricting is also taking a toll onelection administrationafter last month's warnings from the former acting secretary of state appeared to do little to speed up the implementation of new maps. An impasse between Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf over what the final version of the new map should look like is making it more likely the state's Commonwealth Court may ultimately have to draw it.
In December, the secretary of state's office said redistricting needed to be completed by Jan. 24 so candidates could have enough time to officially begin filing paperwork to run in their districts. With that deadline in the rearview mirror, it is now unclear whether lawmakers would be willing to adjust the state's election calendar. The last time they pushed back election dates was in 2020 to accommodate for fallout from the emerging pandemic.
