Democrats in difficult races have started to break with President Obama by calling for the government to implement a travel ban for ebola-affected countries.
“I am calling on the administration to temporarily ban the travel of non-U.S. citizens from the affected countries in West Africa,” Senator Kay Hagan (D., N.C.), who has fallen into a tie in one of the most expensive, competitive Senate races in the country, said Friday.
Hagan expressed openness to such a ban during her October 7 Senate debate with Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis, but she defended Obama’s decision not to issue a ban this week.
“That’s not going to solve this problem,” Hagan said, according to the New York Times. “That’s not going to contain the epidemic that we see happening in Africa.”
Texas state Senator Wendy Davis, whose gubernatorial campaign is much more desperate than Hagan’s, also called for a ban on Friday.
“We must do everything we can as a state and as a nation to ensure [Ebola] remains contained and that families stay safe,” Davis said, per The Hill.