Anthony Fauci is set to testify before the Senate tomorrow about the federal government’s response to COVID-19, revisiting the outcomes of mandates and lockdowns in 2020 and in the years following the pandemic.
While Fauci certainly was the most forward-facing public health official at that time (and he was proud of it, as documents released this week show), many Democratic candidates now seeking Senate seats backed pandemic-era policies that mirrored the recommendations of health officials. But their actions during the pandemic were ultimately detrimental to their respective states and to the nation.
They acted against the public good once before, but now they’re asking voters to trust them again.
Maine’s Senate candidate Troy Jackson was serving as president of the state Senate when the pandemic began, and the state saw a severe decline in public education during his tenure. The state fell from fifth in the nation to last after Jackson encouraged statewide school closures and disrupted the social lives of students throughout the state. By 2024, Maine students recorded their lowest reading and math scores in 30 years. In addition, Jackson voted for legislation that spiked the cost of energy in the state, adding $234 million to ratepayer bills in 2025.
Michigan Senate candidate Haley Stevens turned heads on the House floor in 2020 when she donned pink latex gloves and shouted at her fellow representatives to “take this disease seriously,” before being escorted off the floor for her unruliness.
Aside from her manic outbreak, Stevens voted for a series of COVID legislation that cost taxpayers billions of dollars, including the American Rescue Plan that gave millions to illegal aliens and had an estimated price tag of $1.9 trillion. She later voted against a bill that extended the statute of limitations on fraud cases tied to COVID-era programs, much of which was funded by the very American Rescue Plan Stevens helped pass.
But the COVID fraud Stevens wanted to sweep under the rug was substantial. The Department of Justice recorded 157,000 ongoing unemployment fraud investigations, and 1,600 that were yet to be addressed as of 2025.
The largest of these fraud schemes happened under Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor who is now running for Senate. $250 million in Minnesota fraud was committed by 47 individuals and was largely facilitated by the phony non-profit Feeding Our Future. The “schemes stacked upon schemes” discovered in the state also included taking advantage of Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services, stealing tens of millions in Medicaid funding.
Flanagan has praised Gov. Tim Walz for being “incredibly aggressive” when it comes to combating fraud in the state, but Flanagan seems to have missed the part where fraudsters got away with billions in taxpayer dollars.
In addition to the fraud, Flanagan oversaw nearly $500 million in damage done to the Twin Cities during the summer riots of 2020, costing an additional $24 million in state public safety spending. But rather than condemning the violent and costly riots, Flanagan enabled rioters and called them “people safely demonstrating.”
Put together, Flanagan’s record on riots and fraud has made her and Walz’s administration the most expensive in Minnesota history.
But Flanagan wasn’t the only Democrat in leadership who oversaw millions in fraud. Nearly $50 million in fraud occurred in North Carolina under the governorship of Roy Cooper. And according to state records, officials recovered only $12.1 million of the fraudulent funds.
Not only did Cooper’s administration mishandle funds, but under Cooper, North Carolina remained in a COVID state of emergency until August 2022. And although North Carolinians were robbed of two years of social gatherings, Cooper abetted the riots of 2020, saying “People are more important than property,” and that “black lives do matter.” North Carolina law enforcement agencies reported spending at least $2.2 million in response to the summer protests in Raleigh alone.
James Talarico, a Texas House member at the time of the pandemic, frequently criticized Governor Greg Abbott’s response to the outbreak, saying the governor created a mess. When Abbott ended the statewide mask mandate in 2021, Talarico expressed his dissent by posting a picture of himself wearing a mask reading “Love thy neighbor,” citing the phrase as his reason for continuing to wear one. As late as 2022, Talarico made a public appearance wearing a face mask.
As a state representative, Talarico voted against a bill that would prohibit private employers from mandating COVID vaccines for employees.
These Democrats now seeking Senate seats played a role in pandemic-era corruption that caused lasting economic, social, and physical harm to the country. As Fauci prepares to testify about these policies, these candidates are hoping voters forget who backed him.
Tayte Christensen is a published writer and investigative journalist. Her work has been featured in national publications, including Townhall, The Washington Examiner, and The Daily Caller. She is from Bentonville, AR, and is a graduate of Hillsdale College.