- A Pennsylvania GOP candidate asked for "20 strong men" to help remove school boards that impose mask mandates.
- Steve Lynch, who is running for office in Northampton County in northeastern Pennsylvania, spoke at a rally in Harrisburg.
- In his speech, Lynch also asked men to "wake up" and "make men great again."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A GOP candidate running for local office in northeastern Pennsylvania pledged to confront the pro-mask school board in his district with "20 strong men" in tow.
Speaking at the Freedom Rally against mask mandates in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Steve Lynch suggested that instead of going to school boards with "freaking data," people should go in with the intent to remove them.
"I'm going in with 20 strong men, and I'm gonna give them an option - they can leave, or they can be removed," said Lynch, the Republican nominee for Northampton County executive.
-Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 30, 2021
Lynch attempted to rally the men present at the event in a call to action against the mask mandate in the Northampton Area School District. The school board in the district announced on August 25 that they would require students, staff, and visitors to wear masks on campus for the 2021-22 academic year, which started on August 30.
"Men, where are you? Men. Wake up, smell the coffee. Let's go. Make men great again. Make men men again," Lynch said.
"Let's go, men, I need you. I need you in the coming weeks because when we walk into those school boards, we're gonna have everything we need to do to go in there with those 9-0 school boards that voted to put these masks back on the children with no scientific ... it's done," he added.
Lynch on August 30 released a video saying he wished to clarify what he meant by his comments in Harrisburg.
"At no point did I threaten the current school board members with physical violence," Lynch said. "My intent was to raise public awareness to the current events happening in our local communities which have been run by elected officials who deem our belief in personal freedom as unimportant."
Lynch added in his clarification that his words were intended to show the power of grassroots movements to create change. He also said that by "strong men," he was referring to people in his local communities who "want to get involved in local, important issues."
While Lynch rails against mask mandates, the number of COVID cases continues to rise in Northampton County. The county on August 30 reported an average of 89 cases per day, a 17% increase from the average caseload two weeks ago, per The New York Times' COVID case tracker.
At the state level, Pennsylvania is also reporting an uptick in COVID cases. The state recorded a daily average of 3,255 cases on August 30, a 63% increase from two weeks ago.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/3DxudhR
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