![Nikki Fried Says She's not a COVID Lockdown 'Extremist' [VIDEO]](https://floridianpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG_1706-660x440-1-660x400.webp)
FORT LAUDERDALE—Agriculture Commissioner and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried is once again asserting her opposition to any future mask and vaccination mandates, taking issue with being referred to as a lockdown extremist.
During a rally her gubernatorial campaign held at an early voting location in East Fort Lauderdale, Commissioner Fried told The Floridian that if she was governor, she would not call or either a mask or vaccine mandate, if there was another COVID-19-like outbreak.
“No, and I have said that. I’ve said that, even when it came to vaccines, I’ve never asked for a mandate, I am not for extremes. One side wants banning the vaccines, the other wants mandates,” said Fried.
Fried also said that the “rhetoric” coming out of the DeSantis administration, accusing her of being an extremist for calling for lockdowns, was just “insane.”
Former DeSantis Spokeswoman Christina Pushaw, who has moved over to the DeSantis reelection campaign, recently tweeted in regards to Rep. Charlie Crist and Fried, “No, they’re both extreme and have openly advocated for lockdown tyranny. Nothing moderate about them.”
No, they’re both extreme and have openly advocated for lockdown tyranny. Nothing moderate about them .
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) August 5, 2022
Fried added that DeSantis “went extreme” and shut down the state.
“In fact he was the only one who locked down the state. so you're talking about radicalization to talk to Republicans and from this governor,” said Fried.
A little over a year ago, DeSantis referred to Fried as a “lockdown lobbyist” accusing her of promoting school lockdowns as a result of the COVID pandemic.
Early in the pandemic, and by her own admission, Fried called for a statewide shutdown.
Wink News asked Fried if she supported locking children out of school and closing down businesses at the “height of the pandemic,” saying that that state “should have closed” earlier than it did.
Fried later supported DeSantis’s call to reopen the state.
“He left me out for vengeance and for spite of the reopening taskforce,” Fired said. “I still, at the end of the day, supported his plan that he put out. I thought it was methodical. I thought it was well based on science. The problem was he completely threw that out the window.”
The Floridian— So, hypothetically if you become governor and there's another COVID if you were God forbid we're calling for mask mandates or lockdowns would you do what they're accusing you of
Nikki Fried—No, and I have said that. I’ve said that, even when it came to vaccines, I’ve never asked for a mandate, I am not for extremes. One side wants banning the vaccines, the other wants mandates.
What the governor did, he went extreme. He took the power away from our local governments. He took power away from our businesses.
@NikkiFried takes issue with @GovRonDeSantis & @ChristinaPushaw calling her a 'lockdown' extremist
READ MORE>>> https://t.co/dB85vARmdO#FlPol#Florida pic.twitter.com/35HoryKGLJ
— Javier Manjarres (@JavManjarres) August 14, 2022
