Trump Voters Showed Up Because of the Pandemic, Not in Spite of It
Republicans prevail in Iowa and the Midwest, as voters decide Covid-19 is something they will all just live with — and die from
The watch party for Theresa Greenfield wasn’t much of a party. The Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate for Iowa had taken Covid-19 precautions seriously and only opened the event to members of the press.
As we waited for Greenfield to come out and make her concession speech, the noise of the room was limited to the occasional shutter click, murmurs of reporters whispering to each other, sounds of shifting bodies leaning against the wall, and the distant sounds of cheers and shouts through a TV monitor from another watch party being held around the corner for Sen. Joni Ernst.
“Iowa is a red state,” I could hear Iowa’s governor, Kim Reynolds, declare to a room full of supporters and staff — mostly maskless and definitely not social distancing. They cheered loudly. I imagined the droplets, the bodies, all so close, everything we’d been warned against for months. Here I was in a hotel, sitting masked, distanced, barely talking to anyone. It’s been my reality for months now. And I’m lonely and tired. I had to take my son to get tested for Covid-19; there’s been an outbreak…
