With the Supreme Court of the United States on Thursday upholding most of the federal health-care law that President Barack Obama signed in 2010, the impact of the decision is already shaping state and local politics.

For example, on Florida’s First Coast, two Republicans -- former Rep. Aaron Bean and Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville -- are battling in the August primary to replace term-limited Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville. Both Bean and Weinstein came out swinging against the decision on Thursday afternoon.

“Sadly, the Supreme Court today characterized the president’s Affordable Care Act as a tax and further intruded into the private lives of tens of millions of Americans,” said Bean. “This ruling has now resulted in potentially one of the largest tax increases in American history. It is critical that we take a stand against Obamacare and repeal this measure. It will be a difficult fight, but I know we can succeed in creating real, sustainable solutions that all Floridians can afford and rely on for years to come.”  

Weinstein also took aim at the court’s decision.

“I was very disappointed to learn the Supreme Court decided to uphold key provisions of the health care law, including the individual mandate portion,” said Weinstein. “Allowing the individual mandate to stand gives the power to Nancy Pelosi and her liberal friends to force all Americans to buy a product or service if they deem it necessary. If Congress thinks it is in the best interest for all Americans to eat broccoli, they now have the ability to pass a law to do so on every living and breathing American. This is a stark reminder that elections matter, and if we do not come together and elect conservatives like me to the Florida Senate and conservatives such as Mitt Romney to the White House and Connie Mack to the U.S. Senate, we will continue to lose individual freedoms to an ever growing and expanding government. This should be a huge wake-up call to us. We need to vote this year and elect job creators, not big government liberals. Elected officials such as Barack Obama who expand the size and scope of government need to be shown that their efforts will not be rewarded. Again, elections do matter.”