RIPPLE EFFECTS

WA Lawmaker: Coronavirus Posing ‘Real Challenges’ to March 10 State Primary

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said officials needed to be “thinking differently” about political events in the ramp-up to the primary.

The coronavirus outbreak in Washington state is presenting “real challenges” to political activity in the area in the run-up to the March 10 primary, The Washington Post reports. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said she thought officials needed to be “thinking differently” about where certain events occur and their frequency. “We had a lot of events that we were planning to do, and we’re sort of looking at them and figuring out what makes sense, from an election standpoint,” Jayapal said. “I do have a couple of events that are not election-related on Saturday that have not been canceled yet. They involve, you know, not thousands of people but hundreds of people.” The primary’s voting will reportedly be conducted by mail, after the state party ditched caucuses that it had held in previous years. While Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) reportedly held rallies in Seattle last month, no candidates have any scheduled events in the state. The coronavirus death toll rose to 11 on Wednesday, with 10 deaths occurring in Washington.