Voters rewarded governors who reopened fastest from COVID

For many governors on the ballot this week, the pandemic was the defining issue of their term — and those who pushed for the fastest reopening after the initial wave of lockdowns were among the biggest winners.

Greg Abbott in Texas, Ron DeSantis in Florida and Brian Kemp in Georgia led the way in reopening in 2020, in some cases even defying President Trump’s calls for a slower approach. Each romped to re-election.

It wasn’t just Republicans. In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis was the first Democrat to let a shutdown order expire in 2020, and he also crushed his opponent.

“The ones that opened up the soonest in states that depended on tourism, service industries, those governors were rewarded by the voters like nobody else,” said Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist based in Florida.

That’s not to say COVID dominated the election. It didn’t. Which is news itself.