Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
All of these senators recently have one thing in common.
They’re skipping out on the Republican National Convention — where President Donald Trump is scheduled to formally accept the Republican Party nomination.
Legislators are bowing out of the event, tabbed to take place in Jacksonville, Fla., as the Sunshine State has recently become a global epicenter for the coronavirus.
Sen. Grassley, who was the first to publicly back out of the RNC, noted concerns about the rapid spread of the virus.
“I’m not going to go, and I’m not going to go because of the virus situation,” he told reporters.
As a senior member of the Senate, his absence will mark the first time he’s skipped the convention.
But not every Senator is passing on the landmark event for virus related reasons … or so they say.
Sen. Alexander insists he’s bailing to give other Republicans an opportunity to be a delegate.
Thursday Sen. Roberts told the media he simply had other commitments taking him from the GOP crowning.
“I have some things to do in Kansas that I got to do and unfortunately I didn’t know what was canceled and what was not and whatever, and so I will probably not be.”
Sen. Collins, whose up for re-election, cited her track record: That she never attends national conventions in an election year, according to a source close to the Maine Senator.
And it was no surprise that Sen. Romney, a rival of the President, would skip his trip to the convention though he didn’t specify why he wasn’t going. The Utah lawmaker publicly declared he wouldn’t be voting for Trump in November and instead will write his wife’s name on the ballot.
As for Trump and the convention, the surge of the virus could alter plans to hold the event in Florida and Trump has acknowledged it. He told journalist Greta Van Susteren ” … we’re very flexible, we could do a lot of things, but we’re very flexible.”
All eyes will on Congress to see who — if any — drop out next.
The Horn editorial team