Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) head to Iowa on Saturday for dueling events that underscore the growing rivalry between the two leading contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
DeSantis has been scheduled for weeks to headline Rep. Randy Feenstra’s (R-Iowa) annual family picnic in Sioux Center, Iowa, and to speak at a state fundraiser in Cedar Rapids, while the Trump campaign announced last week that would hold a demonstration. in Des Moines.
The competing commitments are expected to illuminate the increasingly contentious and bitter showdown between DeSantis and Trump, who has tried to freeze the Florida governor out of the 2024 race before he even officially announces a campaign.
A person familiar with Trump’s plans said the Iowa rally had been planned for weeks before it was officially launched. Still, the optics of the event, which comes on the same day as DeSantis’ swing in Iowa, underscore how eager Trump is to counter DeSantis in a critical early voting state.
“It seems absolutely intentional,” said one Republican strategist who has worked on presidential campaigns. “It’s normal for Trump. He sees something happening somewhere and immediately thinks he has to counter it.”
DeSantis has not yet formally launched into the 2024 race, but is expected to launch a campaign in the coming weeks.
Never Back Down, the main super PAC backing DeSantis’ presidential ambitions, has already begun laying the groundwork for an Iowa operation, hiring a half-dozen staff in the state to begin rallying support ahead of the launch formal of the campaign. The group noted that DeSantis’ scheduled appearance at the Feenstra picnic had already broken response records.
Never Back Down has also begun running ads in Iowa and other early voting states, including New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and has begun hiring staff in 14 other states to prepare for Super Tuesday.
“The grassroots Never Back Down movement is seeing strong on-the-ground support in Iowa for DeSantis, from endorsements from influential state GOP leaders to a record number of endorsements for Rep. Feenstra’s Family Picnic, led by by the governor,” Erin Perrine, Never Back Down’s director of communications, said in a statement.
“Iowans are impressed with Governor DeSantis’ unapologetic record of success in Florida and want to see that in the White House. Should DeSantis decide to run for president, it’s clear Iowans will be behind him.”
Early polls in Iowa are thin, though most polls show Trump with a comfortable lead over DeSantis. However, a Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted in March placed DeSantis’ favorability rating above Trump’s.
And when DeSantis lands in the Hawk’s Eye state on Saturday, he’ll already have something to brag about.
State Senate President Amy Sinclair and House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl on Thursday endorsed the Florida governor’s presidential ambitions, lending him the support of two well-known and deeply conservative Iowa Republicans and highlighting the desire of at least some GOP officials to move on from Trump in 2024.
“We need a leader who looks to the future, not a leader who looks in the rearview mirror and is potentially vindictive toward other people,” Windschitl said. he told the Des Moines Register this week. “We need someone who is accountable to the people who has proven to their state that they can do this job and take that same prosperity and spread it across America.”
But Trump has his own high-profile backers in Iowa, including his former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker and former Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa), as well as nearly a dozen other state Republican lawmakers.
The former president heads into 2024 with a much more professional and organized caucus infrastructure, intent on avoiding a repeat of 2016. Leading the effort is state director Marshall Moreau, who managed the success of the Brenna Bird’s campaign last year to oust the now-former president. state Attorney General Tom Miller.
Saturday’s stops in Iowa will test both Trump and DeSantis. The former president finished second to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, and a lackluster finish in 2024 would almost certainly be seen as a blow to his GOP standing.
At the same time, Trump and DeSantis will have to step out of their respective comfort zones to focus on the kind of in-your-face trade politics typical of presidential campaigns in Iowa, said Keith Naughton, a veteran Republican strategist.
“Iowa is more about retail politics,” Naughton said. “Trump is a rally guy. He’s the guy who will talk about everything. I think DeSantis has had a little more experience in that, but he’s had a hard time connecting with voters on a personal level, so I think it’s a test for both of us.”
