Iowa

Political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy is heading back to Iowa this week with a lot of momentum and a big target on his back in the Republican Party presidential nomination chase.  The Ohio biotech engineer is set to join the cattle call of candidates at Friday’s “pinnacle” event of the Hawkeye State’s long, hot summer of presidential politics — the Republican Party of Iowa’s sold-out Lincoln Dinner fundraiser in Des Moines. 

Political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy is heading back to Iowa this week with a lot of momentum and a big target on his back in the Republican Party presidential nomination chase.

After Democrats threatened to censor him during last week's House committee hearing on censorship, Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to hold a "Roundtable on Censorship" next month. “We’re not waiting for the election to elevate free speech in the public mind,” the campaign for the Kennedy family scion said in a mass email message sent Monday.

With apologies to Cedar Rapids-based Janda Motor Services' old TV commercial, make no mistake: this week is a big one for GOP presidential contenders in the Hawkeye State. Almost all of the candidates seeking the GOP nomination -- the long shots and the lions -- are scheduled to attend the Republican Party of Iowa's 2023 Lincoln Dinner Fundraiser on Friday evening in Des Moines. 

After Democrats threatened to censor him during last week's House committee hearing on censorship, Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to hold a "Roundtable on Censorship" next month.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says Wednesday's testimony from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers alleging political interference in the Hunter Biden criminal probe underscores the "two-track" system of justice in America. Meanwhile, the Iowa senator is leading a group of Republican senators demanding the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation protect whistleblowers who disclosed records alleging a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national.

As Donald Trump met with voters Tuesday in Iowa’s second-largest city, a new poll found Hawkeye State Republicans aren't happy about the former president’s recent criticisms of their popular governor.  But the poll, it should be noted, was conducted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' polling firm -- an organization that has failed to provide background information on other positive DeSantis polls.

A super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president is launching a new television ad on Tuesday using an Artificial Intelligence-generated version of Donald Trump’s voice criticizing popular Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.  The Never Back Down PAC ad features an AI version of Trump's voice reading a post he made on Truth Social last week attacking Reynolds.

Unborn babies up to 20 weeks’ gestation are once again able to be aborted in Iowa after a judge temporarily blocked the state’s new Heartbeat Protection Act which Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed into law on Friday. As the measure was signed into law, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned Parenthood North Central States, and the Emma Goldman Clinic filed a legal challenge against its enforcement.

U.S. Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Tim Scott rolled out a new campaign ad Monday in Iowa and New Hampshire in front of two significant campaign events in the first nominating states.  In the ad, titled "Commander in Chief," the South Carolina senator denounces China for spying on children, stealing U.S. jobs, and buying up American farmland.

He was booed on the stage in Florida, grilled in Des Moines. And his campaign events are sparsely populated — generally speaking. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has had some rough days of late on the presidential campaign trail.

He’s young. He’s successful. And he’s extremely confident. Some might say cocky.

In closing the nationally watched Family Leadership Summit late Friday afternoon, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ratcheted up the political rhetoric and sounded more fired up than he's been at some of his previous campaign trips to Iowa.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has long been a standard bearer for the evangelical Christian movement in American politics.

U.S Senator Tim Scott said there shouldn’t be American military “boots on the ground” in Ukraine. But the South Carolina Republican campaigning for president remains supportive in the U.S., providing the weapons and resources Ukraine needs to push back Russia’s invasion.