“We are about to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way we are able to put vaccines in people’s arms,” said Biden. “The last thing – the last thing we need is for the Neanderthal to think that, in the meantime, it’s okay, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters.”
Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said in a statement that Abbott “was clear in telling Texans that COVID was not finished yet and that all Texans must follow medical advice and safe practices to continue containing COVID”.
“It is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations and safe practices that Texans are using, that state mandates are no longer needed. Now we must do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans,” he said. Eze. “The governor’s focus has been, and always will be, on protecting Texans’ lives and livelihoods.”
And his changes on Tuesday came too late to appease some of Abbott’s most vocal conservative critics, who accused the governor of trying to deflect the blame after the recent deep freeze left millions of Texans without power and water.
“All he tries to do is hide from guilt,” said Luther. “He’s trying to take the focus off the power grid issue, which I think he should have taken a lot more blame for.”
In the latter part of his second term, Abbott faced pressure from Republican Party factions that remained silent in the early stages of his government.
Abbott said he plans to pursue a third term in 2022 and could face the primaries – with Texas Republican Party chairman Allen West refusing to rule out a possible race.
Some conservative critics of Abbott said his measures on Tuesday did not go far enough, because the governor left county executives the power to implement their own restrictions.
Democrats also said Abbott’s actions were clearly aimed at appeasing his Republican base.
“There is no doubt that he is concerned about a primary challenge,” said Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa.
And, with 2024 on the horizon, Hinojosa said: “He wants to put himself in a position to be competitive in the Republican primaries, and the only way to do that is to take extreme measures along the lines of what Allen West and the far right of the Republican Party have required to do so in Texas. ”
While Abbott was under siege, potential rivals in 2022, including O’Rourke and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, were visible. O’Rourke mobilized his network of supporters to reach out to Texans facing power and water cuts after a historic freeze closed much of the state’s power grid last month and crossed the state himself. Castro has also openly criticized Abbott, and the former mayor of San Antonio approached mayors to ask how he could help, said Hinojosa.
“You will have a much stronger field of people in this primary than we did in the past,” said Hinojosa, pointing to O’Rourke, Castro and several county mayors and executives as potential candidates.
Although Abbott continues to face the heat from the right, he would remain a big favorite in next year’s governor race – a reality that was emphasized when other Texas Republicans gathered in his defense on Wednesday.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, responding to Biden’s criticism of Abbott, said Biden should not be “preaching to my state about how to deal with the COVID-19 virus”.
“People in Texas don’t like governments telling them what to do. And I think they tolerated it as long as they thought they should,” he said.