Former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will arrive at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, a convergence of the two leading Republican presidential candidates that will highlight the busiest day of state politicking amid farm animals, corn dogs and oversize lemonades. The fair is a throwback to an earlier era of politics more dominated by in-person interactions than cable news appearances, featuring a mix of speechifying and politicians flipping pork chops, and it is drawing most of the 2024 field. The leading Republican presidential rivals will be circling each other at the event on Saturday, just months before the crucial Iowa caucuses. The Associated Press has the story:
Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis to take on Iowa State Fair
Newslooks- DES MOINES, Iowa, (AP)
Republican presidential rivals Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to hold competing events in the early nominating state of Iowa on Saturday, at a time when the former president overwhelmingly dominates opinion polls and the Florida governor is scrambling to reset his troubled campaign. Trump, who famously brought a helicopter to the fair in 2015 and gave children rides during his first primary campaign, is flying to Iowa for a single day of campaigning. In an effort to poke his leading rival, he is bringing along a host of prominent Florida Republicans who have endorsed him over DeSantis.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Windham, New Hampshire, U.S., August 8, 2023.
DeSantis, who replaced his campaign manager earlier in the week, is focused on turning around his political fortunes in Iowa. He has spent two full days campaigning in the state ahead of the fair and ticking off visits to more of Iowa’s 99 counties, all of which he has pledged to visit. DeSantis, who has had two staff shake-ups in the past three weeks and is sinking in the polls, had long planned to attend the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, a political must for aspiring presidential candidates in the state that kicks off the Republican nominating contest in January.
Trump’s late announcement on Tuesday that he was also going to attend the event on the same day as DeSantis amounted to a political gate-crashing of DeSantis’ appearance, one the Florida governor hopes will kick-start his stalled campaign.
DeSantis is making a high-risk bet that he can halt Trump’s march to the Republican presidential nomination by winning Iowa.
Iowa holds the first of the state-by-state Republican nominating contests on Jan. 15. DeSantis hopes that a win in the Midwestern state will give him valuable momentum against Trump before primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Trump’s appearance at the Iowa State Fair just hours after DeSantis’ could steal the limelight from the governor and dominate the headlines. The fair is held in the state capital Des Moines and runs from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20. Last year, it attracted more than 1 million visitors.
Trump’s appearance will also complicate efforts for the rest of the Republican field. Apart from Trump and DeSantis, nine other candidates will be attending the fair between Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, but all are languishing in single digits, over 40 points behind Trump according to the latest poll of likely Republican voters. Almost everyone accepted the invitation, with the notable exception of Trump. He has criticized Ms. Reynolds for her plans to stay neutral in the primary and tried to take credit for her election.
According to that Aug. 3 poll, Trump also leads DeSantis by 34 points, 47% to 13%.
Most of Trump’s rivals, including DeSantis, have agreed to be interviewed individually at the state fair by Iowa’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds between Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, but Trump turned down her invitation. Trump has been angered by her public neutrality in the primary race and her appearance with DeSantis at several of his Iowa events. DeSantis has sought to take advantage of Trump’s comments about Reynolds, with his allies and advisers arguing that Trump has provided an opening by demeaning the popular Republican governor. On Friday, DeSantis scored the formal endorsement of a prominent conservative radio host in the state, Steve Deace, who has been open about his hope that the party won’t nominate Trump again.
In fact, while recording a podcast in downtown Des Moines, DeSantis predicted on Thursday that he would complete that feat by October, a timeline that suggests a particularly aggressive next two months of events in the state.
On Friday, a number of lower-polling candidates fanned out across the fairgrounds, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Perry Johnson, Larry Elder and Mayor Francis X. Suarez of Miami, all seeking attention from potential Iowa caucusgoers.
“This is amazing — I feel like I’m at Disneyworld,” Suarez, who is likely to miss the first debate later this month, said in a chat with Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa, who invited every candidate to a friendly Q. and A. session she is billing as “fair-side chats.”
While DeSantis and Trump are not expected to cross paths on Saturday, it is not clear when they will next be in the same location. Trump has vacillated about attending the first debate of the primary — less than two weeks away — suggesting that he does not need to, given his polling lead. He has also said that he won’t sign the required loyalty pledge.
“You have to earn this nomination, and you have to show up,” DeSantis said on the “Ruthless” podcast on Thursday. “You have to debate. You’ve got to be willing to answer questions. You’ve got to be willing to defend your record, and you’ve got to articulate a vision for the future.”
