Inflammatory U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-San Antonio, suggested during a talk-show appearance this week that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax perpetrated by Democrats and the media.
During a chat with right-wing radio host Steve Deace, Roy accused shadowy forces of ginning up fear of the coronavirus to damage the GOP in the fall election."It is all about November and all about reclaiming power in November," said Roy, a former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "And I think on November 4, there'll be a magic awakening on how we suddenly beat the virus."
Roy added that he's asking the White House and his colleagues to hold hearings to "shine a light on the absolute fraud being perpetrated on the American people of fear."
Since being narrowly elected in 2018 to represent a district that includes SA, Austin and the Hill Country, Roy has drawn headlines for over-the-top comments, including likening stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19 to the policies in Nazi Germany.
In March, he voted against the bipartisan pandemic relief package, calling it “welfare” that would do “more harm than good” and mocking it in a tweet.
Chip's latest conspiratorial claim mirrors that of Cynthia Brehm, who held a rally in May to claim the pandemic was a "Democratic hoax" to damage President Donald Trump.
Brehm was voted out as chair in a July runoff against real estate developer real estate appraiser John Austin, although she's refused to certify the election results.
Former Democratic Texas state senator Wendy Davis, who's running against Roy in November called his latest statement about the pandemic "reckless and dangerous" in an emailed statement.
"Unfortunately, it’s exactly what voters have come to expect of Congressman Roy, who has consistently downplayed the severity of this crisis and has advocated that we defund schools that don’t reopen in the midst of dangerously high outbreaks, while voting against common sense measures to provide relief to folks, like free and more widely available COVID testing, paid sick leave and unemployment insurance," Davis said.
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