Incoming Iowa GOP lawmaker tests positive for coronavirus

An incoming congresswoman from Iowa who spoke at a campaign event for President Trump earlier this month announced Thursday that she tested positive for COVID-19.

In a statement, Rep.-elect Ashley Hinson’s (R) office said that she “feels great and is quarantining at her home in Marion until advised to do otherwise by her physician.” The statement added that Hinson would virtually attend new member orientation for the upcoming Congress.

Hinson remains “ready to get to work for the hard working taxpayers of Iowa’s First Congressional District,” the statement added.

Further details about her diagnosis were not immediately available.

The congresswoman-elect’s announcement comes less than two weeks after she attended a Nov. 1 campaign event for the president and spoke to his supporters onstage as well as during pre-rally events. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who won reelection last week, had joined other Iowa Republicans at the event as well.

Trump referenced the coronavirus pandemic at that rally, telling the crowd that “vaccines are coming in a matter of weeks” and adding that the U.S. was “rounding the corner.”

Hinson is headed to Congress following her victory over Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a first-term Democrat who was the second-youngest woman to be elected to the House in U.S. history after she won office in 2018.