Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the top two names in the 2024 GOP presidential primary field, will be in Iowa this weekend, marking the first time both will be in critical condition simultaneously this year election cycle
The former president will hold a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday evening, while DeSantis will participate in two events in different parts of the state. DeSantis’ first event will be Saturday morning in Sioux Center, where the governor will attend an annual family picnic hosted by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa. Later in the evening, the governor will head to Cedar Rapids, where he will host a reception with Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, billed as an interview-style discussion with the governor.
“There’s a civil war in the Republican Party coming, and it’s coming faster than anyone thinks, and Iowa is ground zero for it,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor who previously raised funds for Trump. but who now supports DeSantis.
“I don’t think any campaign says this, but Iowa is a must,” Eberhart added.
DeSantis may sense a rare opportunity to gain ground on the former president, given that Trump’s loss in the state caucuses in 2016 sent Trump back on his heels in the race for the nomination. Before the governor’s visit to the state, DeSantis received numerous endorsements from Iowan Republicans, 37 to be exact, including from state Senate President Amy Sinclair.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, March 4, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Alex Brandon/AP, FILE
“Support in Iowa for Gov. Ron DeSantis to enter the race to be our next president is overflowing, as shown by this historic list, which is the largest number of endorsements by Iowa lawmakers at this stage of a primary in the GOP in modern memory. Iowa leaders are behind DeSantis as the future of the Republican Party,” said Erin Perrine, communications director for the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down.
DeSantis isn’t the first potential 2024 candidate to be invited to the Iowa congressman’s family picnic. In the spring of 2021, former Vice President Mike Pence, fresh out of the White House, became the first special guest at Feenstra’s first annual picnic, and last year, Trump’s former UN ambassador , Nikki Haley, herself now a 2024 contender, joined. the Feenstra picnic while thinking about a presidential run.
“Iowans are focused on beating Joe Biden and passing a conservative agenda for our country, and that starts with the Iowa caucuses,” Feenstra said in a statement to ABC News. “That’s why I’m excited that Governor Ron DeSantis is headlining my third annual Feenstra Family Picnic to share his record of achievement with my constituents.”
Feenstra and DeSantis will be joined by top Iowa GOP leaders at this year’s picnic, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Mariannetta Miller-Meeks.
“One thing anyone who makes their way through Iowa quickly learns is how seriously Iowans take our first-in-the-nation caucus,” Kaufmann said in a statement to ABC News. “We’re always eager to hear what candidates and national figures have to say, and Governor Ron DeSantis is no exception – we’ve heard great excitement from Iowa Republicans about our sold-out event with Governor DeSantis. .”
Kaufmann added that his conversation with DeSantis will be a great opportunity for Iowans to learn more about him as a person and not just as governor.
Even without DeSantis’ candidacy, Never Back Down has raised $30 million from donors seeking a Republican alternative to Trump since March, and last month, the super PAC launched seven-figure ad campaigns in four states early voting featuring DeSantis as the new GOP leader, as ABC News previously reported.
But Trump’s allies are hitting an even more aggressive pace: the pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. with a massive $50 million war chest already spending more than $10 million on ad campaigns attacking DeSantis.
“Trump sees DeSantis as the biggest threat right now,” Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Iowa conservative group The Family Leader and a prominent figure in Iowa politics, told ABC News.
“I think there are two races: one is Trump against DeSantis, and then you have everybody else against DeSantis,” said Vander Plaats, who has said publicly that he is looking for an alternative to Trump.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate on April 4, 2023, in Palm Beach, Florida.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump could prove difficult to defeat if the field remains extremely crowded, with candidates splitting the anti-Trump vote, the Iowa politician said.
“Let’s say the race must remain as it is now, [where] there are six or seven candidates in the races. Trump will most likely win the Iowa caucuses, and he would win the Republican primary just on the math of the division,” Vander Plaats continued. “If there is a merger around a candidate that emerges as a clear alternative to Trump and that union becomes a one-on-one against the former president, now I think there’s a possibility that they have a candidate other than Donald Trump.”
Asked if DeSantis is ready to take on Trump, Vander Plaats said, “Definitely.”
“He’s the governor of the state of Florida,” Vander Plaats said. “He won massive re-election. He’s accomplished a lot. He’s a very gifted leader. He’s articulate. He’s focused. He’s a Navy SEAL. I think he’s very prepared to go head-to-head with the former president.”
But Vander Plaats, noting that he has yet to endorse anyone, said he still “keeps his hand very open” to several candidates. He said he met with DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis recently in Florida, Nikki Haley will visit his office next week and Mike Pence will the following week.
Asked what Iowans will be looking for from the two front-runners this weekend, Vander Plaats said, “At the end of the day, they want to know the true personal character: whether you have the ability and the competence to be president and whether you are the person right to win. That’s really what they’re looking for.”
Parallel events in Iowa signal the 2024 Republican presidential primary field is heating up for a heated battle in the Hawk’s Eye state as DeSantis ramps up his political operation ahead of a campaign announcement long-awaited, and Trump is trying to raise his public profile, most recently participating in a New Hampshire town hall with CNN during which he continued to push misinformation about the 2020 presidential election.
The pseudo-match between Trump and DeSantis in Iowa also comes after a widening gap in the polls, with the former president well ahead of DeSantis in national polls for the 2024 Republican nomination. The Florida governor was in side with Trump in the polls, buoyed by his strong re-election victory and prolific fundraising in the 2022 legislature. But some Republican leaders and supporters have expressed doubts about whether he is ready to take on Trump, delaying donations or actively seeking alternative candidates.
Trump’s camp says the strong lead is attributable to his record.
“President Trump is leading in the polls in both the primary and general elections and passed important policies to improve the lives of all Iowans. He gave consumers year-round access to E15 gasoline with more blends high ethanol prices, leading to improved corn prices and lower costs for drivers.He negotiated America First trade agreements such as the US-Mexico-Canada agreement and with the European Union, China and Japan to increase access to buy Iowa agricultural products To protect generations of Iowa farmers and business owners, President Trump virtually eliminated the estate tax and enacted cuts to ‘taxes for the middle class,'” a Trump spokesman told ABC News.
Although Trump is the clear favorite in the 2024 presidential election and has widened his lead in the polls, DeSantis remains the party’s biggest threat to Trump’s bid to return to the White House, with former President ramping up his attacks on Florida’s governor. before his expected presidential announcement in the summer.
ABC News’ Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.
