The abject greed of Richard Burr and his colleagues will have serious consequences

Burr told his colleagues to sell their stocks because coronavirus was coming — and in doing so, handed the Senate to Democrats

Burr was heard in a recording released by the North Carolina Society (AFP via Getty Images)

Late yesterday, a recording was released by the North Carolina Society, in which Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) disclosed to a small room of people at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington that coronavirus was coming, and that investors should sell their stocks and get out while they were still solvent. Burr was one of several Senators to heed his own financial advice (actually, at the time of his speech, he had already sold his own holdings, and had penned an op-ed assuring the American people that the country was well-prepared for any imminent pandemic).

When Senator Burr dumped his stocks, so, too, did two other Republican Senators: James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, the latter notable because her husband is also chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. In the coming days, these three Senators — along with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, of California, will almost certainly be called upon to resign. If they don’t, their seats will invariably be the talk of the town, and they will be accused of a despicable abuse of power, as well as a clear violation of the STOCK Act. Notably, Richard Burr was one of only three members of the Senate to vote against that 2012 bipartisan legislation.

As it stands, the Senate has 45 Democratic seats, two Independent seats (both of whom caucus with the Democrats), and 53 Republican seats. Kelly Loeffler is up for re-election in Georgia, a state that is turning more purple with each passing year (just ask Stacey Abrams, who made a strong bid for Governor in 2018). This most recent drama could provide cause for a deep upset in the Senatorial race in that state, inevitably tipping it to the Democrats. Richard Burr is not up for re-election in North Carolina, but if he resigns, his state, which has vacillated between red and blue in recent election cycles, could go blue again, also changing the makeup of the Senate.

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s seat is a reliable win for the Democrats, and Senator Inhofe’s seat is a reliable seat for the Republicans, but there are still seats in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, and Maine that many consider viable Democratic territory. In fact, if former vice president Joe Biden does, in fact, become the Democratic nominee, many have argued that there is a good chance as it stands for the Democrats to recapture the majority in the Senate.

“Four Republicans up for re-election are now officially behind their challengers (or their most likely challengers) by four percentage points or more,” wrote A B Stoddard on March 13, in RealClear Politics. Stoddard has argued that Biden’s surge has brought up some of the expectations of struggling Senatorial hopefuls, like John Hickenlooper, in Colorado, and Sara Gideon, in Maine.

That boost is even more striking today, in light of the Senate stock dump reveal. With Burr and Loeffler down for the count, the Democrats are within more than just striking distance in the Senate. Add to the toxic (for Republicans) Steve Bullock’s entrance into the Montana race a few weeks ago and you have a recipe for Republican disaster. This could be an opportunity for the Democrats to come back from the brink of Senate death. All it took was for four Senators to express their abject greed in a very obvious way.

Of course, we can’t expect these Senators to resign. If the current Senate is any model of how bad behavior can be, they are likely to do what Senators always do: deflect. But that does not mean that their behavior will not have consequence. At the very least, Loeffler has made the case against her own re-election. Three out of four of the Senators are Republican, a good case for turning the Senate blue. Burr, the voice in this matter, was one of the sole voices against the STOCK Act, a vote lacking so much virtue that even the slimiest member of the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted to pass it.

The end result, in all of this, is a beautifully wrapped package, with a bow on top — the Senate delivered to the Democrats, courtesy of one Senator Richard Burr. Democrats, you can thank Burr and the others later. For now, it’s time to ask for their resignations.