Throughout the Republican primary, critics attacked now-GOP nominee Matt Van Epps as “Tennessee’s Fauci,” accusing him of violating Tennesseans' individual freedoms in his role shaping the pandemic response on Tennessee's Unified Command team.

Van Epps was a low-level strategic planner in the command group, a tight circle of state leaders that helped shape the state’s COVID-19 policies and no-bid contract spending — without legislative approval — during the pandemic. Tennessee was one of the fastest states to reopen after the pandemic shutdown , and nearly 28,600 Tennesseans died due to COVID-19 between 2020 and 2022.

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