In late October, the Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota posted a video he knew would be controversial.
“I’ve been called extreme, and perhaps this Facebook video will provide fodder for more people to call me extreme,” the candidate, Scott Jensen, told his viewers. In the 20 minutes that followed, Jensen railed against COVID vaccine mandates for kids, questioned the CDC’s vaccination schedule for other childhood immunizations, and raised other vague concerns about COVID vaccines that have been credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
“I think in terms of safety, the question is still out there,” he said.
The 2022 midterm elections will be like no other: Hundreds of candidates on the ballot this year challenge or deny the results of the previous election. But alongside these false narratives, candidates on the political right are also pushing conspiracies about vaccines.