Jeff Hutt to Join Washington University Discussion on “What Should We Do When the Next Pandemic Hits?”

National Field Director for Mike ter Maat for Vice President and former RFK Jr. National Field Director to participate in St Louis October 27 podcast recording

ST LOUIS, MO, UNITED STATES, October 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Jeff Hutt will join public-health experts and other voices at Washington University in St. Louis for a live discussion about a question the country is almost certain to confront again: What should government be allowed to do when the next pandemic arrives?

The live recording of the Why Should I Trust You? podcast by journalist Brinda Adhikari will take place Tuesday, October 27, from 4:00–6:00 p.m. CDT at Holmes Lounge at Washington University in St. Louis. The event is hosted by the WashU Bursky School of Public Health and will also be available in a hybrid format.

Hutt and Mike ter Maat, candidate for the GOP vice-presidential nomination, will both be available for media interviews in St. Louis surrounding the event and remotely before and after October 27.

Mike ter Maat will attend the event and participate in the audience discussion and Q&A following the taping.

A DIFFERENT VOICE IN THE PANDEMIC DEBATE

“The government will have a role in the next pandemic, but it cannot become another experiment in how much liberty our government can suspend in the name of protecting us,” Hutt said.

Rather than simply revisiting COVID-19, the event will place panelists with differing perspectives inside a hypothetical new pandemic. Participants will confront decisions involving mitigation, medical interventions, emergency powers, government communications, and individual liberty.

Hutt will emphasize
• medical freedom,
• informed consent,
• constitutional limits on emergency powers,
• decentralized decision-making,
• transparency in government-funded biological research, and
• accountability for the institutions that managed the COVID response.

ABOUT JEFF HUTT

Jeff Hutt serves as National Field Director for the Mike ter Maat for Vice President campaign and sits on the national board of the Republican Liberty Caucus and the board of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas.

Hutt previously served as National Field Director for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign and is a well-known campaign strategic advisor to Texas Republican political candidates.

WHY THE DEBATE IS BACK

The discussion comes as Washington is again confronting unanswered questions from the COVID era.

Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in July and repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during senators’ questioning. Fauci had previously received a preemptive presidential pardon. Senator Rand Paul argued that the pardon removed Fauci’s Fifth Amendment basis, while Fauci’s attorneys and Democratic committee members disputed that interpretation.

For Hutt and the ter Maat campaign, the larger question is whether the country can prepare for another pandemic without first determining what government got right, what it got wrong, and where its institutions failed during the last one.

Recent reports involving an incident at a Russian plague-research facility provide another reminder of the importance of laboratory safety, transparency, and biological preparedness. A laboratory leak has not been established.

THE CAMPAIGN'S APPROACH TO THE NEXT PANDEMIC

“The overarching principle is straightforward: the purpose of government is to protect liberty; public safety cannot be separated from the safety of our freedom,” ter Maat said, adding “A serious pandemic may require serious action. It does not make the Constitution optional.”

The campaign supports pandemic preparedness with clear limits on government authority. Emergency powers should have explicit legal authorization, legislative oversight, narrow purposes, and expiration dates. Medical freedom and informed consent should remain protected, while state and local decision-makers should retain substantial authority.

The campaign also supports greater transparency and oversight of government-funded research involving dangerous pathogens.

Accountability must respect due process: establish the facts, investigate independently, and prosecute crimes when supported by evidence.

AN UNPRECEDENTED CAMPAIGN FOR THE GOP VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION

Mike ter Maat is seeking the Republican Party’s 2028 nomination for Vice President of the United States through a campaign unlike the traditional vice-presidential selection process.

Rather than leaving sole responsibility for the selection a vice-presidential nominee on the presidential nominee, ter Maat is campaigning directly for the vice-presidential nomination and seeking to empower Republican National Convention delegates to make that choice themselves. The campaign describes a campaign for vice president as unprecedented in the history of the Republican Party.

The campaign argues that convention delegates—not one presidential candidate and a small circle of advisers—should exercise their authority to select the party’s vice-presidential nominee. Ter Maat says the change would strengthen the independence of the vice presidency while giving delegates a meaningful role in building the national ticket.

Ter Maat was the Libertarian Party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee before returning to the Republican Party. He previously served as a White House economist, economics professor, entrepreneur, professional free-market advocate, congressional candidate, and police officer.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

Jeff Hutt and Mike ter Maat are available for interviews in St. Louis surrounding the October 27 event and are also available for remote interviews before and after the event.
Potential topics include:
• What government should—and should not—do during the next pandemic
• Medical freedom and informed consent
• Constitutional limits on emergency powers
• Rebuilding trust in public health
• Fauci, Rand Paul, and congressional oversight
• Gain-of-function and high-risk biological research
• Laboratory transparency and biosecurity
• Federalism and decentralized pandemic policy
• Lessons from the RFK Jr. campaign and medical-freedom movement
• Mike ter Maat’s unprecedented campaign for the 2028 GOP vice-presidential nomination
• Giving Republican convention delegates a direct role in selecting the party’s vice-presidential nominee

MEDIA CONTACT
Kevin Kane
Mike ter Maat for Vice President
Kevin@MiketerMaat.com
(410) 459-2397

EVENT DETAILS
WHAT: Live taping of “Why Should I Trust You?” — What Should We Do When the Next Pandemic Hits?
WHEN: Tuesday, October 27, 2026
TIME: 4:00–6:00 p.m. CDT
WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Washington University in St. Louis
HOST: WashU Bursky School of Public Health
FORMAT: In-person and hybrid

Kevin Kane
Mike ter Maat for Vice President
+1 (410) 459-2397
kevin@miketermaat.com
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