A Republican deputy district attorney from California has passed away after catching COVID-19, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Kelly Ernby, 46, reportedly contracted the virus after speaking at a Turning Point USA rally on Dec. 4. “There’s nothing that matters more than our freedoms right now,” she told the crowd, denouncing vaccine mandates.
It was assumed that the 46-year-old was also going to run for the Orange County state Assembly in 2022 after having done so in 2020.
Her friends and colleagues mourned her death, with Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer taking to Twitter to share his sadness, calling Ernby “an incredibly vibrant and passionate attorney who cared deeply about the work that we do as prosecutors – and deeply about the community we all fight so hard to protect.”
“It was an absolute privilege to fight the good fight alongside Kelly,” he continued. “Her passion and her shining light will be forever missed.”
Ben Chapman, chairman of the Greater Costa Mesa Republicans, shared a photo of him and Ernby, and expressed his grief.
Ernby previously spoke out against vaccine mandates during her campaign, before the pandemic in November 2019, telling an online town hall, “I don’t think that the government should be involved in mandating what vaccines people are taking.
She continued, saying, “I think that’s a decision between doctors and their patients…. If the government is going to mandate vaccines, what else are they going to mandate?”
