Corman contracts COVID-19, amid gubernatorial expectations

Jake Corman, the ranking Republican in Pennsylvania’s state Senate, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, Senate officials said, a diagnosis that came a day before he was expected to announce his candidacy for governor.

Corman, who tested positive despite being fully vaccinated, will quarantine at home, the Senate Republican communications office said in a brief statement. Corman’s symptoms are mild, it said, but did not elaborate.

Senate officials did not immediately say whether other senators and staff will get tested or quarantine, since the chamber was in session both Monday and Tuesday.

Thursday night’s event, billed as a “special announcement” in Corman’s hometown of Bellefonte, is canceled, a campaign official said.

Corman, 57, who represents a swath of central Pennsylvania surrounding Penn State’s main campus, is the Senate’s president pro tempore and has served in the chamber since 1999 after taking over the seat his father held.

For weeks, Corman has been expected to enter the race, meeting with donors and hiring campaign staff. Corman had said he would discuss his political plans after last week’s election, but neither he nor political advisers have been willing to confirm his plans.

Corman’s entry into the race would swell an already big field of Republicans running for governor that’s double-digits deep, as the party searches for a nominee to potentially succeed outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat.