The two titans in the race for the Republican Party presidential nomination will be back in Iowa next week, setting up a clash of campaigns that didn’t quite come to pass earlier this month.
After announcing his bid for the White House on Twitter this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to make his first official campaign stops in the kickoff caucus state, and former President Donald Trump will follow on his top rival’s heels with a Fox News town hall even in Des Moines.
The Polk County Republicans of Iowa welcomes DeSantis and his wife, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, Tuesday in West Des Moines. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, 6500 Grand Ave. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. The rally launches what the DeSantis camp has labeled “Our Great American Comeback.”
“Governor Ron DeSantis has led the nation with his bold leadership and his battle-tested agenda. When the rest of the world went mad, Governor DeSantis made sure Florida was a safe haven for sanity. The Governor chose facts over fear, education over indoctrination, and law and order over rioting and disorder. He has shown that we can – and must – revitalize America,” declares a DeSantis campaign notice announcing the event.
On Wednesday, he’ll barnstorm the state, with campaign events in Sioux City and Council Bluffs in western Iowa, and Pella and Cedar Rapids in the eastern part of the Hawkeye State.
Certainly not to be outdone, Trump plans to travel to suburban Des Moines, but he’ll be connected to a national audience. Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Thursday will host an “exclusive Town Hall” with the former president from the Horizon Events Center, 2100 NW 100th Street in Clive. The nationally televised event will air from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., during Hannity’s show. Doors open at 2 p.m. with activities beginning at 4 p.m.
Trump is expected to fly into Iowa on Wednesday evening, as DeSantis wraps up his multi-city tour and moves on to New Hampshire.
Trump will begin Thursday at a meeting of the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, according to the Des Moines Register. Members will gather at the Machine Shed restaurant to hear the former president lay out his arguments for a return tour of duty as the nation’s commander-in-chief. At around a 100-person seating capacity, the restaurant is a much smaller venue than Trump is accustomed to, but in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating state, retail politics can make or break a campaign.
He’ll also meet privately with a group of pastors, according to the campaign.
Trump is riding the wave of a significant lead in the polls, seemingly getting stronger with each indictment or government investigation against him. The latest RealClearPolitics average of Republican presidential primary polls shows Trump at nearly 54 percent support, up by 32.6 percent on DeSantis, his closest competitor, who is polling at 21.3 percent.
The polling numbers are a bit closer in Iowa, where Trump leads DeSantis by 22-plus percentage points, 47.7 percent to 25.3 percent.
Trump, who routinely attacked DeSantis before the governor made his campaign official, has ramped up his rhetorical assaults. See Trump’s response to DeSantis’ rough, glitch-filled campaign launch on Twitter. The Trump campaign rolled out a barrage of attack ads, including a video with an image of DeSantis seated next to President Joe Biden and asking, “Why would we ever settle for Trump imposters?”
“You can call me whatever you want. Just make sure you call me a winner, because that’s what we have done in the state of Florida, and that’s exactly what we would do nationally, not only in the election, but actually bringing all these great policies to bear,” DeSantis told Fox News’ Trey Gowdy.
The former president also appears to be dogging DeSantis on the early campaign trail — at least in Iowa. Shortly after the Florida governor stopped in Des Moines in March on his book tour, Trump held a rally in Davenport. Earlier this month, DeSantis appeared at events in western and eastern Iowa, while Trump was slated to hold an outside rally in Des Moines. Severe weather, including the threat of tornados, forced Trump to cancel that event.<
Iowa will play host to a parade of presidential candidates in the coming days. Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy began a multi-city, two-day swing through Iowa on Friday, and several declared and presumptive candidates — South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, conservative talk radio show host Larry Elder and businessman Perry Johnson — are expected to attend U.S. Senator Joni Ernst’s annual Roast and Ride fundraiser next weekend at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Governor Ron DeSantis. Background Photo “Iowa State Capitol” by Stephen Matthew Milligan. CC BY-SA 3.0.
If DeSantis has to hear ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ from Trump one more time, he will feel justified in calling him ‘Donald Grump.’