RNC chairwoman: Quarantines in Democratic-led states made GOP Florida convention impossible

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in an interview published Wednesday that she believes the GOP convention in Jacksonville, Fla., would have been impossible to have due to mandatory quarantines for travelers coming from surging areas imposed by states with Democratic governors. 

In the interview with Real Clear Politics, McDaniel said she “wasn’t that surprised” that President Trump cancelled the Jacksonville portion of the event last week due to “the spike in coronavirus cases there.” 

“And the concern we had [was] with Democratic governors, which we’re starting to see now, that would refuse to let our delegates return to their states or [require] them to quarantine for 14 days.”

“It was just not looking like something that could be tenable,” she continued. “We’ve continually seen Democratic governors who use coronavirus to expand their powers.”

A number of states, including New York, have mandated travelers from hot spots, like Florida, to quarantine for 14 days. 

Florida has seen one of the largest surges in coronavirus cases in the past month, with the state reaching record one-day confirmed counts of more than 15,000 cases. 

Trump announced last week that he was canceling the Jacksonville portion of the party’s convention, citing safety concerns amid the growing number of coronavirus cases in Florida. 

“I told my team it’s time to cancel the Jacksonville component of the GOP convention,” the president said. “I’ll still do a convention speech in a different form, but we won’t do a big crowded convention per se. It’s just not the right time for that.”

The convention was originally supposed to be held in its entirety in Charlotte, N.C., but Trump moved the celebratory portion to Jacksonville amid coronavirus restrictions in that state, which is led by Gov. Roy Cooper (D).