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Citing concerns about the coronavirus, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said he will not attend this year's Republican National Convention, marking the first time he has sat out a convention since he was elected to the U.S. Senate 40 years ago.

"I’m not going to go. And I’m not going to go because of the virus situation," Grassley said Monday morning on a conference call with reporters.

Grassley, 86, said he has attended every RNC since he was elected to the Senate in 1980.

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Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on Tuesday that he will not attend his party's national convention next month, becoming the second GOP senator to announce they will skip the event.

"Senator Alexander is an honorary chair of the Tennessee Trump campaign, but he will not be attending the convention because he believes the delegate spots should be reserved for those who have not had that privilege before as he has had," Alexander's office said in a statement.

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Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said he supported Trump's reelection bid but was uncertain about attending the convention due to the virus.

“We’ll see what the situation is then in terms of what COVID-19 is that week,” Portman told Ohio reporters late last month during a conference call.

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Originally posted by jon-nyc:
Smart of him.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, "does not plan to attend the convention at this time," spokesperson Karina Borger told USA TODAY.

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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said through a spokesperson to USA TODAYthat she would not be attending the convention because it was her custom not to attend the convention in years she was up for reelection.

She skipped the convention in 2008, as well as in 1996, when she first ran and was elected to the Senate, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, "won’t be attending the RNC convention,” spokesperson Arielle Mueller told USA TODAY.

His office did not specify whether his absence would be due to COVID-19 or for other reasons.

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Additionally, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the second-most senior Republican in the House "has yet to decide if he will attend the convention this year," spokesperson Ryan Kelly said.