Grassley Won’t Attend Republican Convention: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Chuck Grassley won’t attend the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, next month because of the coronavirus, spokesman Taylor Foy said Monday.

Grassley, 86, is the senior Republican senator, and this will be the first time in his 40 years in office that he won’t attend the convention.

President Donald Trump insists on holding a three-day nominating convention, with the marquee event being his nomination acceptance speech, even though Jacksonville logged the most coronavirus cases of any metropolitan area in the U.S. late last week.

The Aug. 24-27 event was initially set to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, but a large chunk of it was moved to Jacksonville, where city and state authorities had indicated they would be more lax in enforcing measures such as social distancing and mask-wearing. Jacksonville has since mandated wearing masks in public to halt the spread.

Wisconsin GOP to Hold Convention Despite Virus (4:32 p.m.)

The Wisconsin Republican Party will go forward with its planned in-person convention this weekend in Green Bay amid rising COVID-19 cases in the county.

Brown County is currently experiencing one of the highest rates of coronavirus in the state and has seen a rise in the number of cases in recent weeks. The county has over 3,000 positive cases, second only to Milwaukee County, which has over 12,000 positive cases.

Alesha Guenther, deputy research and communications director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said the convention is much shorter than in previous years and that health precautions are being taken.

“The Republican Party of Wisconsin will make masks available to all attendees, supply hand sanitizer throughout the venue, and provide additional spacing throughout the event to minimize risks. We will also provide full refunds to any potential attendees who are not feeling well, were exposed to COVID-19, or are showing any symptoms of illness. We will also provide full refunds to any attendee who decides not to attend,”

The convention was originally scheduled for the weekend of May 15 in Green Bay but was pushed back while Governor Tony Evers put the state in lockdown. Wisconsin already experienced a spike in Covid-19 cases after the state’s GOP-controlled legislature refused to delay its primary in April and successfully challenged Evers in state court to keep the primary date set.

The Democratic National Committee will hold its convention in Milwaukee in August but has significantly scaled down the event and asked state delegates to stay home and plan to conduct official convention business remotely. -- Emma Kinery

Coming Up

On Tuesday, Biden will attend a fundraiser with Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth and his home state of Delaware will hold its presidential primary.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for the week beginning Aug. 17 in Milwaukee, while the Republicans are slated to meet a week later with events in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.