The Libertarian Party’s US presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen announced on Twitter on Friday that she had recently been bitten by a bat and now had to cancel her appearance at a campaign rally in Louisiana on Saturday morning in order to get a rabies shot. She still appeared at her campaign events in Hattiesburg later in the day.
I will not be able to attend the campaign rally tomorrow morning. I will be getting a rabies vaccine as a precaution after having been bitten by a bat near the start of this campaign tour! I have every intention of participating in the FLAME march and I will deliver remarks at...
— Jo Jorgensen (@Jorgensen4POTUS) August 8, 2020
The psychologist-turned-politician did not specify the circumstances behind the bat-related incident, but later explained in replies to her post that the animal in question was “a run of the mill South Carolina bat”, and not the one originating from the Chinese city of Wuhan, as some people joked. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rabies-infected creatures are actually widespread throughout the United States: they're present in every state except Hawaii.
Jorgensen’s announcement unsurprisingly generated a large number of comments and bat-related pranks. The presidential candidate herself later posted a short clip featuring the fictional comic book hero Batwoman, captioning it “coming in to the debates like”:
Coming in to the debates like... pic.twitter.com/R6C367VDeH
— Jo Jorgensen (@Jorgensen4POTUS) August 8, 2020
“How very 2020 of you. Be glad it was not murder hornets”, one social media user joked, commenting on the news.
— V (weeb Liberty)🏳️🌈🗽 (@FanboiV) August 8, 2020
Wait.
— Robin Dominick (@RobinRD4MO) August 8, 2020
Are you sure it was a bat? pic.twitter.com/TnvXTaunoa
A Wuhan bat?
— Lehigh Libertarian (@LVL1776) August 8, 2020
The bat didn't happen to look like this did it? pic.twitter.com/PNqOPkewUE
— Tony Cronin 🇨🇦🏳️🌈🧢 (@TonyJCronin) August 8, 2020
This gonna be her 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Dzt3ldHkA2
— Lebronsbag (@SandieLove) August 8, 2020
Liberty Bat says, "I don't always bite presidential candidates..."#LetHerSpeak #Jo20 #VoteGold pic.twitter.com/pO08rHLJCC
— Christopher Dutton (@RunBuff) August 8, 2020
Bat Lives Matter
— Physical Distance Singh, MD 🌊 (@LabyrinthWeaver) August 8, 2020
Following a flow of comments, Jorgensen later posted another pic of a sleeping creature, telling her 103 thousand followers that they “all have been fun tonight”.
You all have been fun tonight but it's time to get ready for a busy day tomorrow. Twitter will be filled with all the #LetHerSpeak photos everyone shares and I'll be retweeting them!
— Jo Jorgensen (@Jorgensen4POTUS) August 8, 2020
In the meantime... pic.twitter.com/uqIUfYdhp0
Jorgensen is a senior lecturer at Clemson University who was confirmed as a Libertarian presidential nominee in May; Spike Cohen is her running mate. The candidate’s political platform proposes a less restrained free market and limited state involvement, as well as a reduction of the number of non-violent criminals in American correction facilities and the abolition of the US Department of Education.
Jorgensen’s campaign slogan "I'm With Her” widely re-uses the one of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton back in 2016, but also draws stark attention to alleged victims of sexual assaults of current presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.
Bats have been in the spotlight this year, with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic being largely linked to the animal. Scientists now argue that it is most likely that the evolved virus was transmitted to humans from bats, as around 60% of all known infectious diseases are believed to have been passed to us from animals.
