President Trump said Tuesday that Republicans are “flexible” with respect to holding a full convention in Jacksonville, Florida, amid a rising number of coronavirus cases in the state.
“We’re always looking at different things,” Trump said in an interview Tuesday.
“We went to Florida, and when we went, when we signed a few weeks ago, it looked good and now all of a sudden it’s spiking up a little bit and that’s going to go down. It really depends on the timing. Look, we’re very flexible, we could do a lot of things, but we’re very flexible,” Trump continued.
The remarks signal a shift for the president, who has voiced a strong desire for a full Republican National Convention next month.
In June, the Republican Party announced plans to move the main convention events from Charlotte, N.C., — where it was originally scheduled to take place — to Jacksonville after Trump objected to the North Carolina governor’s demand the party stage a scaled-back convention with social distancing and masks.
Florida has seen a massive surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks after the state relaxed restrictions to allow businesses to reopen, reporting over 7,000 new cases on Tuesday alone. Last month, the city of Jacksonville moved to require residents to wear masks inside and in public places in order to help reduce the spread of the virus. It is unclear whether the policy will remain in place at the time of the convention. Trump’s speech is scheduled for Aug. 27.
A handful of Republican senators are planning to forego this year’s convention amid the pandemic. Senator Chuck Grassley explicitly said this week that he would skip the convention because of the coronavirus.
Senators Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski will not attend the GOP convention next month in Florida, aides for the senators confirmed to The Hill.
An aide for Collins noted that she was never planning to attend the GOP convention because she does not go when she herself is up for reelection. Collins is in a tight race this year that could be pivotal in determining who holds the Senate majority in the next Congress.
Spokespeople for Romney and Murkowski didn’t immediately respond to follow-up questions about whether their plans were related to the coronavirus as the country sees an increase in cases.
Both senators have had high-profile clashes with Trump; Romney was the only Republican senator to vote to impeach the president earlier this year, while Murkowski opposed ObamaCare’s repeal and Supreme Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Romney declined last month to say who he’s voting for but indicated to The Atlantic in February that he could write in his wife’s name, which is what he did in 2016.
“I’m not going to be describing who I’ll be voting for, I don’t imagine,” Romney told reporters last month.
Murkowski, who did not vote for Trump in 2016, told reporters last month that she was “struggling” with whether support him in November.
The three GOP senators are the latest Republican lawmakers to say this week that they do not plan to attend the convention.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the oldest Republican senator, on Monday became the first to formally say he would skip the gathering. He told Iowa reporters that he would not attend because of the coronavirus.
Senator Lamar Alexander, who is retiring at the end of the year, also announced Tuesday that he would not attend, with his office saying he was saving delegate spots for people who had not previously gone to a party convention.
Republicans announced last month that they were moving the main events, including Trump’s speech accepting the party’s nomination, from Charlotte, N.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., amid a break with North Carolina’s governor over whether the convention could go forward without social distancing measures in place.
Florida is seeing an uptick in its number of coronavirus cases and reported 11,458 new cases on July 4, marking an all-time single-day high.
Several other GOP senators have indicated that their convention plans are in flux.
Senator Ron Johnson told a Wisconsin the press late last week that he hadn’t yet made a decision on attending, adding that he wanted to know “what kind of social distancing, what kind of precautions are being taken.”
Senator Rob Portman told Ohio reporters last month that he wanted to “see what the situation is” on the coronavirus before making a decision.
Even as some Republican senators announced that they would not be attending, some of their colleagues confirmed they would attend.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that “the leader has every intention of attending.”
The gathering typically attracts thousands of people, and public health experts have warned against large-scale events because of the risk of spreading COVID-19. Those attending the convention are expected to be tested daily for the coronavirus, according to reports on Monday, as well as have their temperatures checked.