WASHINGTON — This week, Minnesota Republicans joined the list of GOP caucuses who hid a coronavirus outbreak from their Democratic colleagues. After Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and other Republicans tested positive for the virus, the GOP warned its own members about their potential exposure without alerting a single Senate Democrat — endangering their families, aides, and legislative staff.
This has become a popular practice among state Republicans: the Minnesota GOP followed in the footsteps of lawmakers in Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Virginia, who also put their Democratic counterparts at risk earlier this year by concealing COVID-19 diagnoses within their ranks.
The GOP has denied the devastating impact of the coronavirus, ignored scientists, and openly flouted public health precautions. As coronavirus cases jump to new national heights daily, Republican state legislators continue to show that the only lives they care about are their own.
“Republicans won’t even keep their colleagues safe — how can they keep their states safe?” said Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Jessica Post. “The GOP’s pattern of hiding COVID-19 diagnoses and risking lives is reckless, petty, and shameful.”
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