Lockdowns are fading, but GOP outrage isn’t in campaigns

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Shelley Luther, owner of Salon Á la Mode in Dallas speaks to the crowd during the Set Texas Free Rally at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, on Saturday, May 9, 2020. (Vernon Bryant /The Dallas Morning News via AP)

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — It’s not just Democrats who want voters thinking about the pandemic on Election Day. Across the country, some Republican candidates are counting on lingering voter resentment of cornavirus lockdown orders to boost them into office. Among them are Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther. She became an overnight symbol of conservative defiance earlier this year after spending  two days in a Texas jail for refusing to close her doors. She’s now running for a state Senate seat in a campaign that has hammered Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over virus restrictions.