Vice President Mike Pence drew approximately 650 people to a campaign rally in northern Minnesota, a crowd size that runs afoul of state regulations limiting gatherings to 250 people to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
State and local governments that have responded to the pandemic by limiting crowd size have tended not to enforce them on people who have gathered to protest racial injustice and police brutality. President Trump’s campaign has used this reasoning to skirt local limitations on crowd size, and did so again on Monday, describing its rally with Pence in Hibbing, a community in Minnesota’s Iron Range, as a “peaceful protest.”
“Hibbing police confirmed more than 650 people in attendance, exceeding Minnesota health guidelines to restrict crowds to 250 people,” Meredith Lee of PBS’s NewsHour reported in a tweet. The “campaign says rallies are ‘peaceful protests.'”
Per pool w/ Pence in Minnesota today, VP’s event is violating current state covid rules:
“Hibbing police confirmed more than 650 people in attendance, exceeding Minnesota health guidelines to restrict crowds to 250 people.”
campaign says rallies are “peaceful protests”
— Meredith Lee (@meredithllee) October 26, 2020
In the past few days, four of Pence’s close aides have tested positive for the coronavirus. But Pence and his wife, second lady Karen Pence, have tested negative and have kept up their aggressive campaign schedule. Infection rates in the United States are on the rise after a bit of a lull in late summer and early fall.
