Despite being at least the third Republican senator to test positive for COVID-19 within the last 24 hours, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin still doesn’t think mask mandates are a good idea. On Saturday, hours after announcing he had contracted the coronavirus, the GOP lawmaker reportedly said that masks may help reduce the risk of infection but are “certainly not a cure-all” and should be an “individual responsibility.” Johnson’s comments come a day after Republicans who control the legislature moved to strike down Democratic Governor Tony Evers’ statewide mask mandate. Meanwhile, the swing state has seen a surge of COVID-19 cases in recent days, surpassing daily records for new cases and deaths and raising concerns over Wisconsin’s hospital capacity.
On Friday night, after Johnson had taken a test but while he was still awaiting results, he attended the Ozaukee County Republican Party Oktoberfest Dinner, telling the Capital Times that he wore his mask until his remarks, maintained “at least 12 feet from anybody as [he was] speaking,” and quickly departed after giving his speech. Johnson also said there was no need for him to self-isolate pending results, as the CDC recommends, because he was asymptomatic. “I’m not sick,” he said. “I have no symptoms. I certainly didn’t anticipate testing positive, so there was no reason to quarantine.”
Johnson is one of three Senate Republicans to report positive test results during what has been a chaotic weekend on Capitol Hill, beginning early Friday morning with Donald Trump’s Twitter announcement that he and first lady Melania Trump had contracted the coronavirus. The two other GOP senators who have tested positive, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, are both members of the Judiciary Committee that is scheduled to begin considering Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination on October 12. While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Saturday that, in light of the trio of infected senators, the full Senate return will be postponed to October 19, a two-week delay, he made no schedule changes to the confirmation process. “Certainly all Republican members of the committee will participate in these important hearings,” McConnell said, per Politico.
According to The Atlantic, pandemic rules would allow Tillis and Lee to participate in the hearings virtually if they’re unable to attend in person. However, the full Senate vote—scheduled for the end of the month—does not allow for such provisions, requiring senators to physically show up to form a quorum. So while Johnson doesn’t serve on the Judiciary Committee, his diagnosis still threatens the GOP’s push to get Barrett confirmed before Election Day. As The Atlantic notes, Republicans’ 53-47 Senate majority is already operating with little wiggle room given that Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have publicly stated their opposition to voting on a SCOTUS nominee so close to the election. If Lee, Tillis, and Johnson are not recovered in time to physically vote, and Collins and Murkowski remain steadfast in their opposition, Republicans would not have the majority to push Barrett through.
There’s also a possibility that other GOP senators will contract the virus. In recent days, multiple have said they are quarantining after possible exposure. “Until the past few days, the Democrats’ hopes of stopping Barrett’s nomination rested on a likely futile effort to shame GOP senators out of exercising the full weight of their power to cement a durable conservative majority on the Court,” The Atlantic’s Russell Berman writes. “Republicans, however, now face a more complicated path to a Supreme Court confirmation, one imperiled by their own laxity toward the pandemic.”
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— How Gabby Giffords Survived a Shot to the Head, and Outsmarted the NRA
— Michael Cohen’s Daughter Reflects On His Time With the President
— How Jared Kushner Let the Markets Decide America’s COVID-19 Fate
— Donald Trump Goes Full Dictator, Vows to Stay in Office Regardless of Election Results
— An Ex-Republican Strategist Surveys the Wreckage of Trump’s GOP
— How Everyone Is Quietly Lining Trump’s Pockets
— As Election Approaches, Trump Fears Fox News Is Going Rogue
— From the Archive: The Trump Kids Are Bound by Their Desire to Cash In
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.