DeSantis is a fan of using the power of government to achieve conservative ends. His anti-mask mandates, allowing parents to choose whether to let their kids wear masks in school, left no room for individual Florida counties to decide the best course of action in their respective jurisdictions. He signed legislation into law in November to prohibit private Florida companies from requiring vaccination as a condition of employment. That aggressive approach is finding a home elsewhere, most notably in Virginia, where newly inaugurated Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order on his first day in office requiring all counties to give students the option not to wear a mask in school. Youngkin also rescinded his state’s vaccine mandate for state employees upon taking office.

Sununu, on the other hand, has chosen a classically conservative path: Let local governments, individual businesses, and school districts choose the best path for themselve. Most of the state’s public schools still have mask requirements in place, for example, but they’re each free to make their own policies.

“When you tell people they must [do something], right there you’ve broken the third rail. It’s now big government intervening. There are a lot of things I want businesses to do, but that doesn’t mean I pass a law and force them to do it. It’s reactionary,” Sununu told National Journal. “I don’t believe in government-driven vaccine mandates, but businesses have already had the right to impose a vaccine requirement for their employers way before we even heard the word COVID.”