Several Republican Senators have said they will not attend next month’s Republican National Convention in Jacksonville Florida, owing to a variety of reasons.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have all said that they will not attend the GOP convention, as reported by The Hill.
Collins said she will not attend the National Convention because she is up for reelection. This year, Collins is in a race that could determine which party takes control of the Senate majority in the next term.
Romney, Grassley, and Murkowski’s office did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times to confirm their reasons for not attending.
Sens. Romney and Murkowski have had clashes with President Trump; Sen. Murkowski was against Obamacare’s repeal and the nomination of Supreme Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Sen. Romney voted to impeach Trump.
The three GOP senators are the latest Republican lawmakers to say that they do not plan to attend the convention in August.
“I’m not going to go. And I’m not going to go because of the virus situation,” Grassley told The Des Moines Register and others.
A Republican who is retiring this year, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), also said Tuesday that he would not attend the National Convention.
Republicans changed the venue of their convention due to concerns from the North Carolina Governor about social distancing during the pandemic.
Many other GOP senators have indicated that they plan on attending the event, barring any changes to the guidelines set by the CDC.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters in early July that he hadn’t yet made a decision on whether he was attending the convention.
Meanwhile, some spokespeople have confirmed their senator is attending, including Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Mitch McConnell (R-Ala.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.).
Braun wrote in a tweet on July 7, “I campaigned with President Trump in 2018, where he helped expand our Senate majority- and touted his policies to Make America Great Again. I’ll be at the @GOPcovention in Jacksonville with @realDonaldTrump where we will kick off the 2020 campaign to #KeepAmericaGreat!”
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