I see Minnesota State Senator Jerry Relph has died:
Relph, 76, had been diagnosed with Covid-19 after discovering he was exposed at the State Capitol and had been admitted to an emergency room for his symptoms, CNN affiliate WCCO reported. [CNN]
Jerry Relph.
Source: Ballotpedia.
Local readers may remember the local Republicans have been quite cavalier concerning Covid-19, including a kerfuffle in which they failed to notify State House Democrats of Covid-19 infections.
And now that’s cost them one of their own.
This isn’t the time for schadenfreude; my heart goes out to his family. But it’s worth wondering about the repercussions.
First, his seat in the Minnesota Senate is no longer occupied, meaning it no longer has a vote. As the MN Legislature is currently in its seventh special session, this may be important. The current balance is tilted towards the Republicans, 35-30-2; I do not know if the two Independent caucus with the Republicans or the Democrats. Assume that they caucus with the latter: with Relph’s death, the balance is 34-32.
Minnesota Senate Chamber.
Three more serious infections in the incautious Republican caucus and the Democrats might hold, however temporarily, a 32-31 majority. I wonder if that would let them control the Senate as well as the House.
Second, while Relph’s death on its own has little symbolic capacity, if several more Republican leaders sicken and even die, that will endanger an important ideological tenet for the Minnesota GOP: that Covid-19 isn’t all that dangerous, and, even more importantly, the common sense of the individual is to be trusted on all matters great and small.
For the attentive independent thinker, that would be evidence to the fallacy of those two positions; even for the faithful Republican voter, it’ll have to be a jolt, an injection of niggling doubts.
I have no ill wishes for the Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature, even if they sometimes seem to deeply misunderstand the nature of American humanity. But keep a weather eye out to the future if the Republican leadership, through their own foolish behaviors, begin to fall prey to Covid-19. Simply noting that their behavior, despite multiple warnings from public health experts, led to their illnesses and at least one death, may be enough to shift some voters away from the Republicans to the Democrats.
And the Republicans don’t have much of a margin in the Senate as it is. Special elections could become very costly for them. Democratic tacticians may consider suggesting that Republican foolishness on this matter may also extend to other issues, making the Democrats more attractive choices. For non-single issue voters, it might tip the balance.
