Republican senator Chuck Grassley, 86, says he will be skipping the party’s convention in Jacksonville, Florida over coronavirus concerns.
Grassley told the Des Moines Register on Monday: “I’m not going to go. And I’m not going to go because of the virus situation.”Â
This is the first time in 40 years that Grassley won’t be attending the event. He went to every convention since he was first elected to the Senate in 1980.
Another Republican senator, Lamar Alexander said he won’t be attending either but he did not cite coronavirus concerns as his reason for missing the event. His office said the 80-year-old won’t be attending because “he believes the delegate spots should be reserved for those who have not had that privilege before as he has had.”
Trump changed the location of the convention from Charlotte, North Carolina because the Democratic governor of North Carolina would not allow him to host a full-fledge convention packing thousands of people inside an enclosed area without wearing a mask or practicing social distancing.
The rally was moved to Jacksonville, Florida to a venue that holds 15,000 people in a state that has become the global epicenter of the coronavirus.
Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP
