Health Care

Public health emergency powers and workplace vaccine requirements

19 public statements from 2026 candidates · 6 related bills

§1The range of views

Why this matters: These powers can slow the spread of a disease, and they can also close businesses and schools, keep people from visiting relatives in nursing homes and require some workers to get vaccinated to keep their jobs.

Drafted by AI, then checked for neutral wording in a separate AI review. It describes the question and the main positions, not any candidate's view. Facts link to their sources.

What federal and state officials can require during a disease outbreak, such as vaccines for health care and other workers, business and school closures or limits on visiting nursing homes, and how long emergency declarations can last.

  1. Limit emergency powers and bar governments and employers from requiring workers to get vaccinated
  2. Allow emergency measures, but end them after a set time unless lawmakers vote to extend them
  3. Keep officials' power to declare emergencies and require vaccines for some workers, such as in health care

These options describe policies, not people. The order is not a ranking.

§2What candidates have said

Why this matters: Statements candidates made publicly, summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Candidates who haven't spoken publicly on this issue aren't listed.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Limit emergency powers and bar governments and employers from requiring workers to get vaccinated (4)

  • Ralph Groves FL-11
    His campaign website says he would work to prevent what it calls tyrannical vaccine mandates in response to future pandemics.1
  • Dean Ocean Abrams FL Governor
    His campaign website says he opposes vaccine passports, employer vaccine requirements and school closures.2
  • Pro-Life ID Governor
    His campaign website says he would never issue mask, vaccine or other health mandates, and that a governor's emergency powers should last about 14 days before the legislature takes over.3
  • James D. Hooper MI-12
    His campaign website's 2022 Issues and About pages say no one should be made to accept a medical treatment or procedure as a condition of traveling, working or doing business, and that no one should have to carry a vaccination passport.4,5

Allow emergency measures, but end them after a set time unless lawmakers vote to extend them (1)

  • John James MI Governor
    His campaign website says he would require legislative approval to extend emergency orders beyond 14 days.6

Statements that don't match one option (14)

  • Treg Taylor AK Governor
    His campaign website says he went to court to stop federal vaccine requirements for health care workers, federal contractors, large employers and the Head Start program, and sued to help end the federal mask requirement on planes and public transit.7
  • Christopher Lancia CT-3
    His campaign website names people being forced to choose between a vaccine and their livelihood among the policies that led him to run.8
  • Mary E. Miller IL-15
    Her campaign website lists opposing COVID vaccine mandates and databases, including the OSHA COVID vaccine mandate, among her actions in Congress.9
  • Larry Davis III LA-6
    His campaign website's Policies page lists protecting medical freedom and prohibiting federal vaccine mandates among his healthcare goals.10
  • Chris Dardzinski MI-13
    His campaign website says he has no strong views on vaccines in any direction but strongly objects to anyone in government authority telling Americans what they must put in their bodies, and says each household should make its own vaccination decisions.11
  • Anthony Hudson MI Governor
    His campaign website says health decisions, including on vaccines, should be made by informed consent, with no mandates.12
  • Bob Onder MO-3
    His campaign website says he filed and passed Missouri legislation in 2021 to rein in public health officials during COVID-19.13
  • Ron Eller MS-2
    His campaign website says people should be free to decline a vaccine or a treatment for reasons of personal choice or religious belief.14
  • Stephen Villee NH Governor
    His campaign website says that in a pandemic he does not plan to impose a general lockdown, mask mandate or required vaccinations, though he would stay open to scientific evidence that a lockdown or mask mandate is needed, and that he would defer to public health officials on rules for places such as hospitals, nursing homes, public buildings and public transit.15
  • Bruce A. Blakeman NY Governor
    His campaign website says he rejected mask mandates as county executive.16
  • Ken Krawchuk PA Governor
    His campaign website opposes a proposed state Department of Health regulation that it says would allow officials to enter homes, schools and health care facilities without a warrant as part of disease-control measures.17
  • Ted Brown TX Senate
    His campaign website says emergency declarations and executive orders should need approval from Congress before taking effect and that emergency powers should expire unless Congress renews them, and it says Libertarians opposed pandemic lockdowns and business closures.18
  • Pat Dixon TX Governor
    His campaign website says that in a crisis such as COVID, taking away people's liberty and livelihoods is the last thing he would consider, and that elected officials who imposed mandates and closures should be held accountable.19
  • S. Marshall Wilson WV Senate
    His campaign website says that as a state delegate he advocated for health freedom, spoke against mandates it calls unconstitutional and sought the governor's impeachment over what it calls an unconstitutional use of authority.20

§3Related bills

Why this matters: Bills from 2023–2026 that bear on this issue, with how Congress handled them.