Hinson says she’s tested positive for COVID-19

By: Laura Olson - November 12, 2020 1:29 pm

Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. (Photo submitted by Ashley Hinson campaign)

By Laura Olson

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep.-elect Ashley Hinson has tested positive for coronavirus, her campaign announced Thursday.

Campaign staffers for Hinson, a Republican who in the Nov. 3 election defeated Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a first-term Democrat representing Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, said in a news release that Hinson “feels great” and is quarantining at home in Marion “until advised to do otherwise by her physician.”

She will remotely participate in this week’s orientation session for newly elected U.S. House lawmakers, according to the news release.

Hinson, 37, is a former broadcast journalist who was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2016.

She is the first member or incoming member of the Iowa congressional delegation to disclose a positive test for the virus. Iowa has seen a 203% jump in COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks, and hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise sharply, the New York Times reported.

Iowa’s 1st Congressional District covers the northeastern part of the state, and includes the cities of Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo.

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Laura Olson

Laura covers the nation's capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom, a network of nonprofit outlets that includes Iowa Capital Dispatch. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections, and campaign finance.